JXetter* 



(Bteorge 03. Strong 




Class 

Book__ J\ 3 

OoipgM?_ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




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G-EO.W STRONG 

1848 



LETTERS 

OF 



GEORGE W. STRONG 



EDITED BY 

JOHN R. STRONG 



# 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 



n1 S 



Copyright, 192a 

by 
John R. Strong 



Made in the United States of America 



m 12 1922 




So,o4 i<ri fi*-b~ 



$CI.A659558 



This Letterpress Edition of the "Letters of 
George Washington Strong" is printed from 
type, and is limited to Sixty numbered copies 
for private distribution. 



This 


is 


No. 








JOHN R. 


STRONG. 


New York, 








Dec, 1921. 









CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Memoir ....... i 

Letters to John Nelson Lloyd . . 25 

Letters of Mr. Strong's Law-Student Days 209 

Mrs. Selah Strong to George W. Strong . 211 

George W. Strong to Mrs. Selah Strong . 212 

Benjamin Strong to George W. Strong . 214 
Joseph Strong to George W. Strong . .215 
George Bloom to George W. Strong . .217 

Selah Strong Woodhull to George W. Strong 220 

Miscellaneous Letters .... 223 

Judge Selah Strong to George W. Strong . 225 

The Same 226 

George W. Strong to Mrs. Selah Strong . 227 

Benjamin Strong to George W. Strong . 231 

George W. Strong to Eliza Catherine Strong 232 

Eliza Catherine Strong to George W. Strong 233 

George W. Strong to Eloise Lloyd Strong . 234 

Eloise Lloyd Strong to George W. Strong . 236 



vi Contents; 

PAGE 

George W. Strong to George Templeton Strong 238 

John Nelson Lloyd to George W. Strong . 239 

The Same 240 

The Same 242 

The Same . . . . . . 244 

William Johnson to George W. Strong .'. 245 

The Same 246 

John Wells to George W. Strong . . 248 

The Same ...... 249 

Thomas Addis Emmet to George W. Strong 251 

Chancellor Kent to George W. Strong . 252 

Francis Griffin to George W. Strong . . 254 

Robert Fulton to George W. Strong . . 258 

Philo Ruggles to George W. Strong . . 260 

George W. Strong to John Wallis . .261 

The Orphan Asylum Society to George W. 

Strong ...... 263 



Ov6e vv (roi jrep 
'EvrpeireTat <$>i.Kov 1\rop, 'OAvpirtc; ov vv r 'Ofivaaevs 
'Apyeiuiv irapa vi)V<r\ xapt'^ero iepa pe£u>v 
Tpoi'j; eV evpei'u; ti' vu oi roaov utSvaao, Zev; 

Tifv 6' aTrapei/Sopevos frpoae'^ij i/et^eArjyepe'Ta Zev? 
Texvoi' epbf , 7roio»' <re 67ros ^v-yev epxos oSoptcoc; 
IIa»s af eTretT* 'OSv<r»)os eya> flet'oio ka.0oiv.ev; 
Os rre'pi pev fboi> earl /SpoTtof, wept 5' ipd deoiaiv 
'AOavaTOicni' efiw/te, to! ovpai'bi' evpvv €\ovo~i.v; 

Odyssey, I, 59. 

ft? ^ pipupa 0eov<ra 0aAa<r<r>)s *cvpaT' erafivev 
'AvSpa 4>epovo~a Oeois' eVaAi-y/aa pjjfie* e\ovTa, 
"0? Trpi'v pev uaAa jroAAd Trad' aAyea 01/ Kara dvpbf, 
'AvSpitv Te 7TToAepov? aAeyeiva Te KVfiara neipuv, 
Atj Tore y' aTpe'pa; evSe, AeAacrpevof bs?' eTrerrbvOei. 

Ibid., XHI, 88. 



LETTERS 
OF 

GEORGE W. STRONG 



iWemoir 

George Washington Strong, the youngest son 
of Judge and Mrs. Selah Strong of Setauket, Long 
Island, New York, was born at Mt. Misery, later 
Oakwood, and near Setauket, on January 20, 1783. 
As the Articles of Peace between England and America, 
after General Washington's remarkable leadership in 
the Revolution, were then in course of settlement 
by the representatives of the two nations, he was 
given the name of the successful General. 

Judge Selah Strong, his father, was of the fourth 
generation in descent from Elder John Strong of 
Northampton, Massachusetts, the main stem of per- 
sons of this name in America, and left a large family of 
children, whose descendants form, at the present time, 
a numerous connection. Judge Selah Strong was a 
Deputy to the first three Provincial Congresses of the 
Colony of New York (1775-6), a Captain in the Con- 
tinental Army in the Revolution, County Treasurer 
( 1 786-1 802), State Senator (1792-80), and first Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County 
( l 7 8 3-93)- He was also President of the Board of 
Trustees of the Town of Brookhaven (1 780-1 797), and 
Supervisor of the Town (1 784-1 794). It was said by 



2 JWemoir 

his grandson, the late Justice Selah B. Strong, of the 
Supreme Court of New York, sitting also in the Court 
of Appeals, that on April 22, 1790, Judge Selah Strong 
entertained General Washington at Roe's Hotel, 
Setauket, when the General revisited Long Island on 
his Eastern tour of the country in that year. The 
building then called Roe's Hotel had, in an earlier 
time, been a private dwelling of Judge Selah Strong's 
ancestors. General Washington's Diary mentions his 
going at that time "to Setakit, to the house of a Capt. 
Roe," where he remained overnight. In the Calen- 
dar of Historical Manuscripts relating to the War of 
the Revolution, in the Office of the Secretary of State 
(Albany, 1868), Vol. 1, at pp. 44-47, are the records 
of the election of Selah Strong as Deputy from Brook- 
haven Town to the Provincial Congress of New York 
in 1775, and on p. 272 is the record of his election as 
Captain of the Brookhaven military contingent on 
March 27, 1776. Among the passengers on Robert 
Fulton's first steamboat, the Clermont, when she 
performed her first regular trip on the Hudson as a 
"packet" from New York to Albany on Sept. 4, 1807, 
was Judge Selah Strong, and he afterwards headed the 
signers of a testimonial to the success of her trip. 
{Life of Fulton (1909), by Alice Crary Sutcliffe, p. 251.) 
A woodcut of his dwelling at the Little Neck of St. 
George's Manor, near Setauket, appeared in the New 
York Magazine for October, 1792. He is said to have 
been a man of native power and great force of char- 



iffflemotr 3 

acter and, when not otherwise occupied, a farmer. He 
was born on Christmas day, 1737, and died on July 4, 

1815. 

Mrs. Strong (April 14, 1740-August 12, 1812), the 
wife of Judge Selah Strong, was Miss Anna Smith, a 
great-granddaughter of Colonel William Smith, an 
English gentleman, born on February 2, 1655, near 
Higham-Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England, and, 
early in his life, an investor or merchant in the City of 
Tangier, Morocco, then a recent acquisition of King 
Charles II. In December, 1682, he was commissioned 
as "Mayor of the Royall City of Tanger in Africa," 
in the time of Sir Richard Kirke, the last English 
Governor of Tangier, but held office only until Novem- 
ber, 1683, when he left Tangier shortly before its dis- 
mantlement and evacuation by the British. His 
investments there appear to have been, to some ex- 
tent, lost. He was married on November 26, 1675, 
at Tangier, to Martha, daughter of Henry Tunstall, 
Esq., of Putney, Surrey. They both came from Eng- 
land to America in 1686, in the time of King James 
II, and he was made a member of the Governor's 
Council, and, in 1692, Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the Colony of New York. He was also the 
Judge of the Prerogative Court of Suffolk County, and 
many Wills, still extant, are on record as proved before 
him. Governor Andros, when in captivity at Boston 
in 1689, asked through a messenger that Col. William 
Smith, then living at "Zeatalkett, the middle of Long 



4 JWemoir 

Island," and Col. Hamilton, be sent from New York 
to obtain his release, but the project was not carried 
out. On first arriving in the Province of New York 
from England, he went in the same year to Setauket, 
where he bought from the Proprietors their allotments 
in the peninsula called Little Neck, at the present time 
generally distinguished as St. George's Manor, there- 
after purchasing from the Indians, in 1691, very ex- 
tensive lands further South on the Island, and the two 
purchases were the foundation of the Letters Patent 
made to him by Governor Fletcher, on October 9, 1693, 
of St. George's Manor. The Patent confirmed Col. 
Smith in his title to his purchases, and erected them 
into "the Lordshipp and Mannour of St. George's," 
with the usual right to hold in the Manor a Court Leet 
and a Court Baron, and with title to waifs, estrays, 
deodands, etc., and it also granted that the Manor 
should be free from the jurisdiction of any Town or 
Township, and that the tenants might choose Assessors 
for raising the public charges laid by the General 
Assembly of the Province. A further patent, dated 
June 17, 1697, annexed additional land to the Manor. 
Col. Smith died, when little more than fifty years old, 
at his house upon Little Neck, Setauket, on February 
18, 1705. Mrs. Smith survived him for four years, 
and died on September 1, 1709. An inventory of his 
personal effects, verified by Mrs. Smith, will be found 
in the publications of the New York Historical Society, 
Abstracts of Wills, Vol. 1, p. 322, and embraces the 



iHemotr 5 

usual possessions of a man of his station, his portrait, 
silver-headed cane, silver ware, a "fine fishing rod," 
a "Turkey Scimeter," a velvet saddle and side saddle, 
several swords, etc. In a paper on "Coaches in Colo- 
nial New York," read before the New York Historical 
Society on March 4, 1890, it was said that "the first 
coach was brought to New York by Col. William 
Smith, who came to this country from Tangier," and 
a newspaper report stated that the lecturer said that 
"it was considered a marvel of beauty." At page 410 
of the last mentioned volume is his interesting Will, 
dividing the Manor among his heirs, and devising to 
his eldest son, Henry, his land on the "Neck, com- 
monly known by the name of the little Neck, of the 
Town of Brookhaven, but now within the Manor of 
St. George, with my new and old house, and all other 
buildings thereon." The Will of Mrs. Smith may be 
found in Vol. 2 of the same series, at p. 123. The title 
to the little Neck "in the Manor of St. George's within 
Brookhaven," has always remained in the descendants 
and connections of Col. Smith. It was once, in 1768, 
almost conveyed, with certain other property, by 
William Smith, a descendant of Col. William Smith of 
Tangier, to a Mr. Andrew Seton, for £5050, but who 
gave back at the same time to William Smith a pur- 
chase-money Mortgage of the premises for the greater 
part of the consideration. This Mortgage having been 
foreclosed, the property was bid for and secured at 
the sale, in 1785, by Judge Selah Strong, the husband 



6 Mtmoix 

of Mrs. Anna Smith Strong, a descendant of Col. 
Smith, and the title has ever since been in him and in 
his and her descendants. In Dwight's History of the 
Strong Family, Vol. I, p. 619, additional interesting 
lines of descent are mentioned in connection with Mrs. 
Strong's ancestry. 

It is now, at the time of writing, nearly sixty-seven 
years since Mr. George W. Strong's death, and the 
members of his family, his friends, partners and law- 
students, have also all passed away. The writer, who 
was less than four years old when Mr. Strong died, 
retains only a moment's impression of him. What can 
be ascertained, therefore, of Mr. Strong's earlier life, 
can now be only very fragmentary and imperfect. A 
single collection still exists from his correspondence, 
arranged after his decease in two volumes by his son, 
and including 446 letters. Besides these, there is a 
letter to, or in reference to, his daughter, Eloise, but 
not attainable at this moment, and also a letter to his 
son, found attached to the latter 's private journal. 
This Memorial has been compiled by bringing together 
the more generally interesting of these letters, or por- 
tions of them, and it is thought possible that the 
perhaps unusual character of their writer might be 
perpetuated through them, and thus made accessible to 
his descendants. Wherever you look in these letters, 
you find a wealth of common sense and moderation 
and delightful humour, with a literary style which it 



JWemoir 7 

is easier to see the merit of than to equal. The greater 
part of the collection consists of his letters to the 
brother of his first wife, Mr. John Nelson Lloyd, of 
Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, N. Y., extending to the 
decease of the latter gentleman, in 1841, and through 
the care of his daughter, Miss Mary A. Strong, a 
few letters to and from him were added from his law- 
student days, and there are, besides, a few miscella- 
neous letters. 

Mr. Strong's name appears in the catalogue of the 
graduating class of Yale College in 1803; his birth- 
place was across the Sound, and nearly opposite to the 
College. He is also listed at Princeton with an honor- 
ary A.B. and A.M. in 1804 and 1806 respectively. 
A letter from Yale College in the collection states the 
selection of eight members of his class, including him 
for ''Exhibiting an oration" at the Commencement of 
1806. Among his friends at Yale were his classmates, 
George Bloom, who was also his room-mate, and 
Messrs. Darling, Day, Dutton, Dwight, Holley, Hyde, 
Porter, Scarborough and Shefman, and men in other 
classes, Messrs. T. J. Oakley, Smith, Tappan and 
Selah Strong Woodhull, all of whose names appear in 
the earliest letters. Mr. John Nelson Lloyd, also, was 
in the class of 1802. In reading these oldest letters, we 
see that in 1804 occur two letters to him addressed as 
"Law Student," New York, and another is addressed 
so later, in February, 1806; this last letter commissions 
him to obtain a copy-right of a book for its writer, who 



8 iWemoir 

was, apparently, a friend of his family. Some other 
letters of 1804, addressed to or from 92 Nassau St., 
New York, contain a reference to "the last year of my 
Collegiate life," and an allusion to his classmates, 
Holley, Darling and Porter. In 1805, a letter from his 
brother, Benjamin, advises him of a suggestion, lately 
made, that he should leave the study of the Law for 
that of the Ministry. A letter of August, 1806, is 
addressed to him, "to the care of Caleb S. Riggs, Esq., 
New York," who was then a Counsellor at Law at 
18 Cedar Street, and the addressee is described in the 
letter as, "no doubt ex aetate superintendent of the 
affairs of the shop ! " during the Summer absence of his 
seniors, the letter continuing: "it is an office for which 
you are well qualified by the unremitting perseverance 
which I have ever ranked among the many meritorious 
traits in your character ; the well known truth of this 
assertion will shield me from that imputation of 
flattery," etc. The letter is from a Mr. Price, a fellow 
law-student very probably. A letter of November 25, 
1806, is a joint tribute from four of his friends or 
office-mates, Messrs. William M. Price, John J. Sickels, 
R. M. Popham and William E. Dunscomb, and is 
addressed to him as "Attorney at Law," referring 
evidently to his recent admission to the Bar. A 
passage from this letter is: "Endowed with a strong 
mind and brilliant imagination, which your impreg- 
nable regard for virtue has served to strengthen, we 
have ever beheld in you a model, which to imitate 



jfflemoit 9 

would be to establish an unblemished character. 
Modest of your merits, you have never plumed your- 
self on those acquirements which your diligence has 
secured to you, and which your perseverance must 
render invaluable. In your friendship, we have ever 
found your actions exceed the measure of your pro- 
fessions." His signature to the Roll of the Court of 
Chancery on his admission to the Bar in New York 
City appears on the 21 November, 1806. Mr. 
Washington Irving, who was born in the same year 
with Mr. Strong, and doubtless was given his baptis- 
mal name for the same reason, signed on the same day ; 
and his signature appears next in order. The very 
noticeable signature of John Wells appears with the 
date, 10 April, 1805. Mr. Strong again signed the 
Roll on the 5 July, 18 14, perhaps with more particu- 
lar reference to the Court of Chancery. 

In September, 1808, a letter from Benjamin to 
George W. Strong refers to a letter written by the 
latter to the Spectator, newspaper, and is an instance 
of the habit among the four brothers, Thomas, Benja- 
min, Joseph and George, of entitling each other as 
"Brother Thomas," "Brother Joseph," etc., a habit 
which is still remembered of them; the letter to the 
New York Spectator refers to a political, Federalist- 
Democratic dispute at Setauket, of which he wrote a 
careful narrative and a firm statement, quoting some 
verses by Goldsmith. It was written at his father's 
instance. The letter received two answers through 



io ifHemoir 

other newspapers. Mr. Strong's career, after his enter- 
ing upon the practice of the law, can be traced to some 
extent through his correspondence, and in other ways, 
but the daily course of his professional labour, with its 
no doubt varied incidents, is very seldom alluded to in 
detail by him in his letters. His office-registers, giving 
-formal outlines of the lawsuits in his office, are still, to 
a considerable extent, in existence, extending back to 
the time of his admission to the Bar. Mr. Strong 
probably had some maritime practice, or, at least, 
some business with mariners, but how much is not 
now known, as his existing Registers show very little 
trace of it. Some sea-farer presented him with a model 
of a full-rigged ship, about eighteen inches long, and 
very elaborately constructed, which the writer of this 
Memoir remembers most certainly, as he played with 
it, as a child, not, as was mentioned to him, to its 
advantage. A ship's Captain, also, presented to Mr. 
Strong a gold watch, bought abroad. The Captain, 
however, mentioning his own cleverness, told him that 
he had paid no duty on it, and Mr. Strong, on the 
following morning, deciding that he could not wear a 
watch thus introduced into the country, went to the 
Custom House, declared it, and paid the duty.. This 
incident was remembered and frequently spoken of 
among his children. 

In 1809, Mr. Strong was married to Angelina, 
daughter of John Lloyd, Jr., and sister of John Nelson 
Lloyd, and his second cousin through his mother, 



JHemoir 1 1 

whose mother was Margaret Lloyd. By this marriage 
he had two daughters, Eloise Lloyd, who married Elias 
Hasket Derby of Boston on Thursday, September 4, 
1834, and Mary Amelia, who died unmarried. A 
marriage-notice appears in the Long Island Star for 
July 27, 1809, as follows: "Strong-Lloyd. At Hunt- 
ington, L. I., by the Revd Mr. Schenck, George W. 
Strong, Esq., of New York, to Miss Angelina Lloyd, 
daughter of the late John Lloyd, Esq., of Lloyd's 
Neck." 

In October, 18 13, is a letter from Robert Fulton to 
George W. Strong as to the contract for the steamer 
Paragon, Fulton's fourth boat in New York waters, 
and it is addressed to Mr. Strong's office at 15 Burling 
Slip. On September 20, 1814, there came upon him 
the death of his wife, Angelina Lloyd Strong, aged 
twenty-nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Strong then lived 
at 37 Sugar-loaf Street, soon to be called Franklin 
Street, and then or recently in the Northern verge or 
suburb of the rapidly growing town. Letters have 
been found relating to this marriage, though none 
directly between the parties to it themselves. In 
December, 1814, appears a sharp and determined 
letter from him as attorney for the Union Bank. In 
1 81 5, Philo Ruggles, a lawyer of Poughkeepsie, writes 
to him, and this letter has an interest beyond its own, 
as, many years afterwards, in 1848, on Monday, May 
15, a granddaughter of the former, Miss Ellen Caro- 
line Ruggles, daughter of Samuel B. Ruggles, of New 



12 ifWemoit 

York, was married to Mr. Strong's son. In 1819, 
Mr. Strong was married to his second wife, Eliza 
Catherine, daughter of Oliver Templeton of New York. 
There were two children of this marriage, George 
Templeton and John Wells, of whom the latter died 
while still a child. One of Miss Eliza Templeton's 
-sisters, Maria, also married a lawyer, William Johnson, 
the widely known reporter of Chancellor Kent's de- 
cisions, and an account of the marriage of their daugh- 
ter, Eliza, appears in Mr. Strong's letters. In Septem- 
ber, 1822, a letter appears from Thomas Addis Emmet 
at Albany, in care of John Wells, Murray Street, New 
York, Mr. Wells then residing on Murray Street and 
Mr. Strong having theretofore become Mr. Wells' 
partner. In the next year, in September* he is ad- 
dressed by the same distinguished gentleman at Pine 
Street, New York; this had been the business address 
of Mr. Wells and Mr. Strong, but Mr. Wells had in 
that month, after a brief illness, unexpectedly died. 
Mr. Strong wrote to his brother-in-law, Mr. Lloyd, of 
this event: "Thus has died the first man, beyond all 
dispute, in this State. No death since that of Hamil- 
ton has been so severely felt or deeply and universally 
deplored." Mr. Strong's son is remembered as men- 
tioning once, in his table-talk, that Mr. Wells' decease 
was the last occasion on which the principal Courts of 
the City had to close for such a reason, he being en- 
gaged in almost every important case on one side 
or the other. In the Evening Post for September 



iWemoir 13 

8 and n, 1823, appears an account of a Meeting 
of the Bar to pay respect to his memory, William 
Johnson, Esq., in the Chair. Mr. Strong's partnership 
with Mr. Wells was entered into probably but a few 
years before the latter' s death, certainly by January, 
1820. His subsequent partners were chiefly George 
Griffin (1823), and Marshall S. Bidwell (1838). His 
business address in 1820-21 was at 44^ Pine Street, 
while his dwelling was at 50 Franklin Street. In 
1822 he removed his family to 108 Greenwich Street, 
and in 1830-31 he changed his office address to 47 
Wall Street, in 1835 to Broadway at the corner of 
Exchange Place, after the Great Fire, and, somewhat 
later, to 55 Wall Street ; his last office address was at 
68 Wall Street; this building remained intact until 
very recently. 

Since this Memoir was prepared, an exceptional 
event has occurred, which should be mentioned here, 
the writer having had the happiness to meet a gentle- 
man, who, in his first youth, was associated with Mr. 
Strong, and who has stated several circumstances as 
to Mr. Strong from personal memory. Mr. John A. 
Stewart, formerly President of the United States Trust 
Company in Wall Street, and now, in his hundredth 
year, an active Director of the Company, coming to 
town twice a week to supervise the business of the 
Company, and retaining an alertness and strength of 
mind which might be desired by younger men, wrote, 
in his answer to a request for an interview: "I was 



14 Mtmok 

acquainted with Mr. George W. Strong, who was the 
President of the Board of Education in 1842, and I was 
Clerk of the Board." In an interview, he represented 
Mr. Strong as "a man of middle height and rather 
stout," resembling, he continued, in this respect, the 
frontispiece of this book, "not at all effusive" in his 
.manner, but rather reserved, and "a great real estate 
lawyer." He also said that Mr. Strong had many 
law-students, it being the custom at that time, instead 
of going to a law school, to join the office of a lawyer. 
He recalled also that Mr. Strong was Counsel for The 
Bank for Savings — The Bank for Savings, as there was 
at the time of its establishment only one institution 
of this kind and standing in the City, then situated in 
Chambers Street, and afterwards removing to Bleecker 
Street. The Bank has again removed to Fourth 
Avenue and 226. Street. Mr. Stewart did not think 
that the portrait which forms the frontispiece of this 
book, nor the half-length oil portrait now hanging in 
the offices of Mr. Strong's successors in business, ex- 
actly reproduced him. Mr. Strong seemed for a mo- 
ment close by, in the memory of the gentleman who 
had known and spoke of him. 

Incidents of his family life, included in the selection 
from Mr. Strong's letters, will be of interest to those 
for whom alone this book is produced. Some allusions 
to him, found in his son's private journal, may, as a 
contemporary light, be added to these. As to examina- 
tions of students at Columbia College we read in this 



jffflemotr 15 

journal : March 25, 1836 : "My father is to be there and 
he will be horrified if I don't do very well, as I fear I 
shall not." And on April 2 : " If I only satisfy my father 
I shall be satisfied. ' ' Again, on July 18: " The visiting 
Committee, Messrs. Anthon, Knox and Strong." 
July 19: "Met my father just coming in." On Oc- 
tober 3 his son took the Greek and Latin medals, and 
also in Chemistry, and the bronze medal in Latin 
composition. "My father is satisfied, that's one com- 
fort." And on March 15, 1837 : " I should not care one 
cent if it was not for my Pater, who will be there, I 
suppose — or at all events be sura to hear of it somehow 
or other; he would be most horribly vexed." As to 
examinations of candidates for the Bar, we read : May 
17, 1839, "The Supreme Court has got a new idea 
. . . that entrance examinations are much too light. 
. . . The 25 rejected stood another examination 
which lasted from 4 until half past eight, my father, 
Edwards and Field being the Inquisitors. The two 
latter tortured them horribly, examined strictly and 
severely. . . . The old gentleman came last, and 
he examined rapidly and lightly, and evidently gained 
thereby an immense deal of popularity, among the 
rising generation." Other entries are: Dec. 4, 1835: 
Mr. Strong was "condemned to be Vice-President of 
the Webster Meeting." Dec. 17: His law-office was 
burned in the Great Fire, but his papers were rescued. 
April 27, 1837 ; The Great Panic of 1837. " M Y father 
looks and talks and evidently feels very gloomily on 



1 6 JHemotr 

the subject. For myself, I feel very philosophic — on 
my own account. I firmly believe that in a moral 
point of view it would be all for my good to have to 
push my own way, entirely unsupported." May 6: 
Run on the Dry Dock Bank. "Uncle Benjamin (the 
Presdt) . . . called this evening and had a kind of 
consultation with my father." June 2: Fire in a 
house near Mr. Strong's house. "My father had 
dressed himself and gone round there. He found about 
a dozen people round the door deliberating whether to 
open it or not. He told them to open it at once, in the 
hope that the papers and so on might be got out." 
Jan. 14, 1838: "Took a walk with my father up to 
Eighth street. He tells me that Hawks' statement in 
the N. Y. Review that Burr practised with a pistol 
some time before his duel with Hamilton, is a fact. 
He went out once to Burr's place at Richmond Hill, on 
business, and there he saw the board set up and per- 
forated with pistol balls, where the infernal, cold- 
blooded scoundrel had been practising." Oct. 16: 
The Harlem Bridge cause, D. Lord and Beardsley for 
the plaintiffs, and Geo. Griffin, Butler and G. W. 
Strong for the defendants. Oct. 18: "Verdict main- 
ly for the defense." Dec. 15: "Uncle Thomas is in 
town and stays with us tonight. ' ' Jan. 31,1 839 : ' ' Old 
lady Hamilton at the office . . . had walked down 
from St. Mark's Place, and was going to walk back." 
April 25: "My father has been all day engaged in 
the duties of that high and responsible office of public 



jfWemoir 17 

trust, a Commissioner of Public Schools, or whatever 
it is, and travelling all over the island with his com- 
peers, examining, admonishing and inspecting its 
various nurseries of the Tree of Knowledge." May 
16: "My father out all day on his Common School 
Inspectorship." May 23: "My father out all the 
morning Common School inspecting." June 12: 
"That's a very bad habit of the old gentleman's, 
trying to settle up suits in this way," that is, an ami- 
cable settlement and compromise. June 22: Walter 
Cutting "tells me that the old gentleman had the 
Chancellorship, or the V.C. ship, offered to him a few 
years ago, and declined on the ground of incom- 
petency. I should think him as competent as McCoun 
or Walworth." Jan. 8, 1840: "Chancellor Kent paid 
us a visit this morning. He's going to get out another 
Ed. of the Commentaries." References occur to Mr. 
Bidwell, Mr. Strong's partner. April 17, 1839: "Saw 
a copy of Sir T. Head's 'Narrative'" at the office. 
"Mr. Bidwell says he never knew his own importance 
before; he's discovered that all the Canadian contro- 
versy has been simply Head vs. Bidwell." June 27: 
"Bidwell opened the argument at one [on a return to 
a writ of Habeas Corpus, before the Recorder], and 
kept the Court crowded and attentive till four, with 
the most eloquent and forcible address I've heard from 
him yet. It was very clear and very convincing, and 
as elegant in style and manner as anything I ever heard 
in a Court of Law. He commented on the affidavit 



1 8 Mtmoiv 

at length, and cut it to pieces in beautiful style." As 
to Mr. Strong's law-students, for whom his office was 
noted, some references are found, as follows: Jan. n, 
1837: "Seymour, who graduated last year, wants 
to enter my father's office." July 12: "Chittenden 
proposes to enter my father's office." "My father 
expresses himself as unwilling to admit any more 
students till Spring." July 25-31 : McMullen makes 
the same arrangement for studentship as Chitten- 
den. Sept. 6, 1839: George C. Anthon entered the 
office. Oct. 1st: John Weeks joined the office. 
Nov. 5: John Hone wants to come in as a student. 
Do not see how "we can squeeze more than nine 
into these two little pill-boxes of offices." June 9, 
1840: Augustus Cram as a student. Oct. 19: Peter 
Strong as a student. Nov. 20: Eight at examina- 
tion this evening. Mr. Strong's practice was to regu- 
larly examine his students. Nov. 21: Four new ma- 
hogany desks arrive for Peter Strong, Schermerhorn, 
Whitlock and Geo. T. Strong. On the fly-leaves 
of those of Mr. Strong's Registers of Suits which 
still remain, appear his personal certificates for his 
law-students, as follows, for: Adam Smith (181 3); 
Caleb Woodhull (1813); Minor Hallock (1815); Na- 
thaniel Coles, Jr. (1815); Elisha D. Whittlesey (1815); 
Robert J. Chesebrough (181 7); Clarence D. Sackett 
(1818); Frederick Fairlie (1818); Benjamin Tibbetts 
(181 9); Colin Campbell Tredwell (1819); William 
Ennis (1825); Alexander H. Phillips (1825); Frederick 



ifWemoir 19 

Bronson (1826); John C. Cruger (1826); Alexander H. 
Dana (1827) ; Charles Wiley (1828) ; Jonathan Nathan 
(1829); Thomas W. Chrystie (1830); Lorenzo Neely 
(1831); Charles I. Taylor (1831); Abner Benedict 
(1831); Henry Whitney (1831); James R. Averill 
(1831); Charles Elliott Scoville (1832); William 
Templeton Johnson (1832) ; Lewis B. Woodruff (1832) ; 
Ethelbert Smith Mills (1835); Edward Tompkins 
(1836); Charles Seymour (1837); John McMullen 
(1838); George W. Morell (1842); John Mansell Brad- 
hurst (1842); Theodore C. Vermilye (1842); James 
Tallmadge, Jr. (1843); Alfred Spink (1843); Charles 
Edward Strong (1843); David S. Coddington (1844) 
Albert H. Phillips (1844); Edward B. Smith (1844) 
John H. Parish (1844); Ira Day Whittlesey (1844) 
George P. Quackenbos (1845); Charles F. Winthrop 
(1845); George A. Jones (1845); Edward E. Potter 
(1846); Stephen Bayard Fish (1846); Edward Z. 
Lewis (1846); Edward H. Swan (1846); Theodore F. 
McCurdy (1846); Henry H. Morange (1847); Arthur 
M. Jones (1847); Henry Van Schaick (1847); James 
D. Clark (1847); George H. Sharp (1848); James F. 
Ruggles (1848); Pierre M. Van Wyck (1848); and 
John Jay White (1849). The list is quite incomplete; 
Judge Selah B. Strong, particularly, Mr. Strong's 
nephew, was one of his law-students. Referring again 
to his son's journal, an allusion to Mr. Strong's fond- 
ness for horses occurs. June 19, 1849: "Ellen took a 
drive behind my father's two hippopotami yesterday." 



20 jmemofr 

As to the letters to Mr. Lloyd: Oct. 26, 1855: "From 
the character of the vast multitude of letters addressed 
to my father and carefully preserved by him, which I 
have examined, including hundreds from Lloyd, it is 
evident that he was the only man with whom my 
father kept up a regular correspondence on other than 
business matters. . . . Whatever was the motive 
for keeping them, they are invaluable, and if I leave 
a child or children behind me I shall take care that 
they prize and preserve the two or three quartos I am 
slowly constructing as they deserve. I am thankful 
for possessing so faithful a portrait of so wise and good 
a father." 

There was a tendency to make Mr. Strong Vice- 
Chancellor, or Chancellor, once, but he preferred not 
to accept office. This tendency is referred to in his 
son's journal for June 22, 1839; and is mentioned as 
one of "a few years ago"; his son is remembered also 
as saying of him, long afterwards: "They wanted to 
make him Chancellor, but he wouldn't hear of it." 
Any suggestion of the Chancellorship could only have 
been made before Chancellor Walworth's official term 
commenced (1 828-1 848); the Court was abolished in 
1846-7. Mr. Strong mentions the Vice-Chancellor- 
ship in his letter of March 17, 1828. Chancellor Wal- 
worth's appointment to his office was of April 19, 1828. 
(1 Paige, Chancery Reports, note.) The subject is again 
alluded to by Mr. Strong in his letter of March 24, 
1828. An inference, therefore, is not without color 



JHemoir 21 

of reason, that on Mr. Strong's declining the Vice- 
Chancellorship, a suggestion was made to him that he 
might be spoken of for Chancellor, as was said by his 
son, and that he declined to have his name considered. 
So far as is known, Mr. Strong held public office only 
in connection with the schools, at first as School- 
Commissioner in the city, serving without salary ; after 
the religious controversy over the Public Schools in 
1840, he was made the first President of the then newly 
organized Board of Education. (The New York Public 
School, by A. Emerson Palmer (1905), pp. 101, 340.) 

Mr. Strong died on June 27, 1855. He dwelt at 
that time in a house built by him on Gramercy Park, 
New York City. The land for this house, at the North- 
west corner of the Park, was bought by him in 1848, 
at the time of his son's marriage, and he built the 
house thereafter, moving into it from 108 Greenwich 
Street. The adjoining house toward the West was 
owned by his sister-in-law, Miss Olivia Templeton, 
who moved into it from no Greenwich Street, No. 2 
Carlisle Street, the earlier residence of the Misses 
Templeton, having apparently already been given up ; 
the next house to his to the East was owned by his son. 
The three houses were connected by private passage- 
ways. Mrs. Strong had died on November 24, 1853. 

At a small meeting of the Bar, attended by some of 
the more distinguished members, on the day of his 
funeral, Chief Justice Oakley in the Chair, very ap- 
preciative and descriptive Resolutions were proposed 



22 ffltmoiv 

by Daniel Lord, Esq., and adopted, mentioning, "the 
simplicity of his demeanor in the midst of great pro- 
fessional success, his forbearance and patience in con- 
troversy, his truth, his honesty of opinion, of speech 
and of conduct," also, "that we bear witness, from 
knowledge, to his great professional learning, industry 
and acquirements, we cherish in our memory his kind 
and unassuming manners, his high integrity, his un- 
spotted honor, his irreproachable private character, 
and his lofty principles of morals and religion." 
The United States Circuit Court adjourned on that 
day in respect for his memory. 

Mr. Strong appears to have been eminent in the 
more substantial elements of character, while his 
strength and practical ability were evident to all who 
knew him. The deep regard felt for him by his family 
appears in a passage in the journal just mentioned, as 
follows: July 10, 1855. "Universal, sincere regret, 
even in this thoughtless, hurrying city, as for a public 
loss and general calamity. With good reason ; learning, 
judgment, candor, integrity, justice, charity and 
kindliness, courtesy to rich and poor, all combined in 
him. How many have I heard of who spoke of him as 
the best man they ever knew. Wonderful, untiring 
industry and fidelity in labor marked all his life. Not 
from love of money-making. That feeling was never 
manifest in him, did not exist in him. He repudiated 
all openings to wealth, shrank from profit, except in 
the righteous and moderate wages of work. It was 



JWemoir 23 

from higher than money-making motives that he toiled 
early and late, denied himself relaxation and holiday; 
it was from the feeling that what work he had to do 
ought to be done thoroughly, promptly and well. 
Truth, justice and fidelity in every relation and every 
duty seemed part of his nature. I have not felt all 
their value, because I never could conceive of him as 
otherwise than perfect and spotless in integrity, be- 
cause it was impossible he should do a wrong, or fail 
to render to every one round him more than the am- 
plest measure of right." 

The Revd. Benjamin W. Dwight, in his History of 
the Strong Family, concludes his account of Mr. 
Strong with these words: "His tastes were all simple, 
and he had no love for office or ostentation. His 
character was one of remarkable symmetry. He was a 
member of the Presbyterian Church, and is remem- 
bered by those who knew him best as a wise and up- 
right man, who feared God, and regarded carefully 
the rights and interests of his fellows." 

J. R. S. 



ICettera 

Jfrom 

George Washington Strong 

loijn Mtlxon Hlopb 



25 



letters; to Jofm j^eteon JLlapb 

New York, 23 Nov., 1821. 

MyD r Sir: 

Since writing you last, it has occurred to me that 
the plan proposed of taking the trespasser by a 
warrant issued by a Justice of Queens, will prob- 
ably prove abortive, for unless the Defendant 
personally appears before the Justice at the return 
of the warrant, the Justice will have no jurisdiction, 
and cannot proceed. It is true the officer making 
the arrest will have the right to take the Defend- 
ant forthwith before the Justice, and have him 
tried, but this would defeat the plan of having my 
attendance, and to trust to the Defendant's prom- 
ise to appear on a given day, would be putting 
ourselves completely in his power to defeat our 
object. 

On further reflection, (and that too after a good 
deal of examination) , I believe our true course is to 
commence a suit in the Common Pleas of Queens. 
... As I do not attend the Common Pleas of 
Queens, and as I consider myself a party concerned 

27 



28 Eetterg of <@. m. Strong 

in interest, I have spoken to T. McCoun Esq. to 
bring the suit. But I will attend to it in its differ- 
ent stages as much as if it were in my own name. 
Mf M?Coun and myself both think that the pres- 
ent plan is the only possible one that can be 
resorted to with any prospect of success. . . . 

In haste, I remain, 
Yours &c, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 



New York, 17th Dec?, 1821. 

My D* Sir: 

I have at length prevailed on Eloise to write you 
a Letter, which is enclosed. I cannot, and pre- 
sume you will not, give her much credit for it, as 
it was written in too much haste. She grows 
remarkably fast, and I must say, after making all 
allowances for parental partiality, what perhaps I 
have never said, but often thought, before, that she 
bids fair to make a superior woman, should her life 
be spared. Her understanding is good, but ex- 
hibits nothing of a superior order or of brilliancy. 
What pleases me best, however, is the general 
turn of her mind, and which, to my view, exhibits 
strong tokens of great discretion, forethought and 



3tetter* of <©. ML Strong 29 

prudence, which after all are perhaps, in women, 
the most valuable virtues. . . . 

With best regards from my family to yours, 
I remain, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 

Note: Miss Eloise Lloyd Strong was born on May 13, 18 10; 
her sister, Miss Mary Amelia Strong, on August 25, 18 13. 



New York, 16th Feb'y, 1822. 

My D: Sir: 

Yours of the 13th inst. I found on my table this 
morning, the Captain, I presume, having forgotten 
to hand it to me last evening. I unintentionally 
omitted in my last to desire you to say to Uncle 
Harry that I would with sincere pleasure prepare 
the leases, and with or without compensation as may 
be most agreeable to him. ... I have lately been 
favored with a M.S. copy of Chancellor Kent's 
opinion in Kenney vs. Udall. It is a most elaborate 
one, and, when it appears in Johnson's Reports, 
the conduct of the Doctor in this transaction will 
not ' ' tell well ' ' to posterity. Do you think it would 
afford you any amusement for a leisure hour if I 
should enclose it to you for your perusal ? And if 
you have any fancy to observe the immense dis- 



30 ^Letters? of #. HL Strong 

parity between your Humble Servant and "Her- 
cules," I will accompany it with my brief. Should 
this be done, however, delicacy toward the Doctor, 
as well as myself, would require that you should 
keep the matter strictly to yourself. 

We are all well, and beg kind remembrances to 

you and yours. 

Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 

Note: By Uncle Harry is probably meant Henry Lloyd, 
unmarried, the elder brother of John Lloyd, Jr. ; the latter was the 
father of John Nelson Lloyd. 



Letter of Feb. 25, 1822. 

I take pleasure in handing you the two enclosed 
papers. They are necessarily expressed in a good 
deal of technical language, which must be more or 
less unintelligible to a layman, but which, to a 
lawyer, is as familiar as A,B,C. Still, I think you 
will be able to comprehend a great part of it. I 
beg you distinctly to understand that my object in 
offering you the perusal of my brief was not for the 
purpose of enabling you to institute a comparison 
as to the merits of the two, except only so far as to 
show the immense difference between them, for 
you well know that I have always looked upon 



better* of <&. M. Strong 31 

Chancellor Kent as having reached an elevation 
altogether unattainable by almost any other 
lawyer in this country. He is a perfect giant in 
the law, and so will be universally admitted by 
posterity, some 2 or 300 years hence. Still, I 
suppose it would afford you some pleasure to read 
mine with his, both being written on the same 
subject, and, I may add too, both on the same side. 
For when he has made up a decided opinion on any 
subject, he suffers nothing to stand in his way. 
The arguments on the other side are treated by him 
as mere cobwebs. Nor has he any delicacy, when 
occasion requires it, as you will see in this very 
case, in pronouncing the English Lord Chancellors 
wrong. 



Letter of Mar. 4, 1822. 

I am in no want of the papers you refer to. My 
brief is functus officio, and the other paper I had 
copied by one of the clerks on purpose for you. 
Keep them, therefore, as long as you please. The 
Chancellor, you will observe, confines his remarks 
chiefly to the 2d Point, and I consider his discus- 
sion of it a most elaborate one, one which, without 



32 Hetter* of &. M. Strong 

a "perhaps," would have done honor to Lord 
Mansfield in his best days. True, the excellency 
of it does consist chiefly "in the mass of citation," 
and in what better could it consist ? The province 
of a judge is to ascertain and declare, not to make, 
the law. And how can he find out the law, except 
by a careful and thorough examination and com- 
parison of all the cases previously decided upon 
the same subject? The principles involved in the 
case were new in this country, and left entirely 
unsettled by the English decisions, and the only 
possible merit which my brief can claim is that the 
outlines which it marked out were confirmed by 
the Court. But it required a master's hand, not 
inferior to that of James Kent, to fill up those out- 
lines so as to present a beautiful and consistent 
whole. 



New York, ist April, 1822. 

MyD. Sir: 

After leaving you, I made the best of my way 
against a heavy head wind, and thro a good deal of 
fog, and some hard rain, to Brooklyn, where I 
arrived very wet, and not a little fatigued, just 
before sunset. I found all well at home, and 
experienced no bad effects from a ride, which, to 



better* of <©. M. Strong 33 

say the least of it, was rather imprudent and un- 
pleasant. 

I have heard nothing yet from Uncle Harry, tho 
I hope to do so either this evening or tomorrow 
morning. 

Tell John that after a pretty diligent search, I 
can find no copy-book with pictures in it. I have 
therefore been obliged to take one without pictures, 
but to compensate for his disappointment, (which 
I wished much to avoid), I have bought and 
now send him a picture book. I also send 
two others, one for Angelina and the other for 
Phoebe. I have not designated the owners, leav- 
ing that to you, which you can do much better 
than I, after you see how they suit their different 
fancies. 

I also hand you Sugden's Letters, which I think 
will afford you some very useful information, with- 
out encroaching much upon your time. I am in 
no hurry for its return as it is not a very useful 
book in a lawyer's library. Indeed I bought it 
only for the clerks. 

Except Mary, who has a cold, we are all well, 
and unite in affectionate regards to you, M r ? 
Lloyd and the children. I must beg you to tell 
John that I shall expect to see the copy-book 
written thro without any blots, and with evident 



34 Hetter* of <&. M. Strong 

marks of improvement, and that as soon as he is 
able he must write me a letter. 

Yours very sincerely, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: John, Angelina and Phoebe were three of Mr. Lloyd's 
children. There was also another son, Henry. 



New York, 15th May, 1822. 

MyD r Sir: 

Your two letters of yesterday and today are 
duly received. 

You entirely mistake the time of trial. "The 
law's delay" is greater than you imagine. The 
Writ is only returnable next month, and the trial 
cannot possibly come on before the Court follow- 
ing, which I believe is in November next. I will 
see that due attention is paid to it. 

I would with pleasure ask M* Wells' opinion 
what your compensation ought to be, were he not 
a very unsuitable person to judge in such a case. 
It ought to be a man of judgement, who is conver- 
sant with business of this kind, a man, for instance, 
in your line of business. Give me your own ideas ; 
I do not believe we shall differ. 

I regret extremely to hear that you think more 
unfavorably of Uncle Harry's situation, also that 



Uttttx* of <©. M. strong 35 

M5 S L. is quite indisposed ; after all, this is a very 
troublesome and dying world, full of every species 
and degree of misery that man is capable of endur- 
ing. 

Poor brother Joseph, the shock of his failure 
has not in the least subsided, and every day it 
strikes me with more horror. ... He has now 
cotton on hand here to about $35,000., the brig 
on a voyage to Savannah, worth about $6000., and 
about $50,000. worth of property in Georgia, the 
whole of which are assigned to secure the confiden- 
tial creditors in the first place. Still, you know that 
the first calculations in such cases are seldom 
realized. 

I know my feelings on this subject are unreason- 
able and unaccountable. But I feel as if I was not 
worth a cent in the world, as if I too were coming 
to absolute want, and my only consolation is that 
I am not in debt and that my children are provided 
for. My reason tells me this is all nonsense, but 
I cannot get the better of my feelings. 

My family are well, and we unite in affectionate 
regards to yourself, M? Lloyd and the children. 
Yours &c, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 

Note : This letter refers to the failure of Strong, Willets and 
Co., referred to again in Mr. Lloyd's letter of April 20, 1833. 



36 Hettera of <§, W. Strong 

Letter of July 19, 1822. 

When Capt, Cogswell was here a few days ago, 
he stated the circumstances of his arrest at the suit 
of James, on the 4th inst., while in the act of cele- 
brating the Independence of his Country. As this 
affair has originated in the trespass suit, and as I 
have never understood that the Captain conducted 
improperly in discharging the duties of his office of 
Sheriff pro hac vice, but, on the contrary, mani- 
fested, if anything, rather a lack of courage when 
the loaded gun was pointed at him, and resorted 
to the prudent measure of applying for a file of 
men for his protection, I for one am disposed to 
see him out in it, and so I have told him, adding 
that I have no doubt the other proprietors will 
join me in it. As this suit is in the Common Pleas 
of Suffolk, I presume my nephew Selah B. Strong, 
who is there quite the cock of the walk, will be 
the most suitable person to take charge of the de- 
fense. The writ cannot be returnable before next 
October, nor can the trial commence previous to 
next May. 

New York, 2i s . t August, 1822. 

MyD r Sir: 

Your letter of the 18 th Inst, reached me yester- 
day, and I extremely regret to hear of the serious 



Iletter* of <£♦ W. Strong 37 

and alarming indisposition of M? L. M! White 
had mentioned it to me the day before, which was 
the first intimation I had of it. From your letter, 
I am encouraged to hope she will get up again. 
Perhaps of all situations in which we can be placed, 
none is more excruciating and agonizing than that 
of watching over a tenderly beloved wife, under 
the apprehension that she will not survive her 
sickness. The sensations are such that I never 
shall forget them, or cease to think of them without 
the most gloomy recollections. 

You doubtless hear many alarming reports of 
the sickness here. It is indeed bad enough, but I 
presume not as bad as you hear in the country. 
I have not yet shut up the office, but have ceased 
to sleep in town. . . . 

I, of course, shall defer my visit to the Neck 
with the children for the present. 

Yours truly, 



GEO. W. STRONG. 



JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 14th April, 1823. 

My Dear Sir : 

Since I left your house, I have not heard any- 
thing in particular respecting M rs Lloyd's health. 



38 Hetter* of <©. M. strong 

My anxiety on this point induces me to request you 
would write me as often as your leisure may 
permit. . . . 

Coleman having recently stated in his paper 
that Df O'Meara's "Voice from S* Helena" had 
been commended by 29 different European writers, 
and I having otherwise heard a very exalted char- 
acter of it, I was induced to buy it. I have read the 
first and a part of the 2 nd Vol., and began it with 
every possible prepossession in its favour. But I 
confess I have been disappointed. The real object 
of the Book is perfectly apparent, viz., to wipe 
away the stigma from Napoleon's moral character, 
and to cast reproach upon England on the score 
of his treatment. That he was a prodigy of great- 
ness as a conqueror no man can doubt, and it re- 
quired no voice from S! Helena to establish that 
fact. I have no doubt that O'Meara has done Sir 
Hudson Lowe most essential injustice, for which 
he will be made to pay severely in the libel suit 
which Sir H. has brought against him, as stated in 
the English papers. He makes the Governor a 
mere fool, actuated by the meanest and lowest 
suspicions and prejudices. The Governor's situa- 
tion was a highly responsible one. The eyes of 
the world were upon him, and that he acted in the 
manner represented, or that the British Govern- 



Hetter* of 0. M. strong 39 

ment should appoint a man of no more sagacity 
and discretion than what are allowed to him, are 
in my mind conclusively repelled by the intrinsic 
circumstances of the case. . . . My word for 
it, if Dy O's Book survives one hundred years, it 
will be condemned more than applauded by an 
impartial posterity. But I will not pursue this 
subject further. Having stated my opinion of the 
Book, and which is so different from what I antici- 
pated, I felt bound to say something in support of 
it. . . . 

We are all well, and beg kind remembrances to 
you and yours. 

Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 30^ June, 1823. 

My Dear Sir: 

After leaving you yesterday week, Ml . . . 
and myself reached Jamaica about 8, where we 
passed the night, and came to town next morning 
about 7, and I found my family all well. 

In reference to a certain recent most calamitous 
domestic occurrence which has befallen you, it 
can scarcely be necessary for me to say that I most 



40 Hettet* of <@. JUL Strong 

feelingly sympathise with you in your affliction. 
These afflictions are the common lot of humanity, 
and are the necessary appendages of our most en- 
dearing enjoyments, and it is obviously true that 
the more endearing our domestic enjoyments, the 
more poignant is our grief at the loss of them. 
Under such afflictions, there is but one considera- 
tion which can have any rational and decisive in- 
fluence in assuaging our feelings, and that is a well 
grounded hope that the loss of her whom we de- 
plore has been her inestimable gain. Some time 
previous to the occurrence of that e\ent, I was 
given to understand, in a very satisfactory and to 
me highly gratifying manner, that she was very 
sensibly alive to the all important realities of eter- 
nity, and that she had exhibited the most consoling 
evidence that, however her friends might regret 
her departure, yet that, to her, death was dis- 
armed of its principal terrors, and that you had 
been most faithful in your endeavours to prepare 
her for the change that inevitably awaited her. 
I need not tell you, my dear Sir, how heartily 
welcome this intelligence was to me, how often I 
have thought of it since, and what unspeakable 
consolation I have no doubt it affords you in 
this season of affliction. There is in religion 
a reality which the world can neither confer nor 



Hettera of <©. 9H. Strong 41 

take away, and which we feel most sensibly and 
value most highly when called to mourn the loss of 
a near and most endearing relative. This comfort, 
unless I am greatly deceived, is yours, and it is the 
best, indeed, the only, comfort which it is in my 
power to offer you, and while on this subject, allow 
me to say to you in perfect sincerity, that it is 
one, on which I much more frequently reflect and 
feel, than speak or write, and one in which I feel 
and know that I have a deep and eternal interest 
at stake, about which I am much at a loss, as to 
my own situation, were I now to be called hence. 
While I see very many whose condition and future 
prospects I consider as far preferable to my own, 
I can scarcely name the individual to whom, in this 
respect, I view myself as fairly entitled to a prefer- 
ence. The truth is the best of us are but a wretched 
company of evil doers, and if we would but im- 
partially look at ourselves, we should find much 
more to condemn in ourselves than in others. 
Sure I am that on this subject there is a very gen- 
eral mistake. On that great day of account, when 
the secrets of all hearts will be laid fully open to 
view, when there can be no deception, and no 
escape, many, perhaps very many, who have 
exhibited a very fair and decent exterior thro life, 
will be found wanting, while many of those who 



42 Hetter* of <g, ML Strong 

have made far humbler claims, who have passed in 
silent tribulation thro life, will be found to be 
possessed of the one thing needful. But in making 
this remark, and drawing this contrast, I must be 
allowed to protest against any individual appli- 
cation of it. That belongs to God alone, and I hold 
it to be the height of impiety, and a direct usurpa- 
tion of his unalienable sovereignty, to pronounce 
this man a saint and that a reprobate. Whoever 
wishes to deal in such opinions, let him first look at 
home. But I will not further enlarge on this sub- 
ject. I beg you to remember me and my family 
most affectionately to your children, and believe 
me to remain, 

Most affectionately your friend, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: This letter refers to the recent decease of Mrs. Lloyd. 



Letter of Nov. 25, 1823. 

Chancellor Kent's only son has recently entered 
our office as a student, which, so far as his opin- 
ion goes, I cannot but consider as rather a com- 
pliment. 



Hetter* of <©. W. Strong 43 

Letter of Dec. 9, 1823. 

I have this morning received your letter to 
Eloise, which has not yet been delivered, but 
which, I trust, will inform us how you are. 

In taking my usual walk this morning with 
Eloise before breakfast, indeed while we saw the 
stars on the Battery, (it was prodigiously cold), 
the idea occurred to me that during the Holidays 
I should like very much to take a ride up to the 
Neck. Whether I shall be able to accomplish it 
or not, remains yet to be determined. 



New York, 14 February, 1824. 

My Dear Sir: 

I certainly owe you an apology for my long 
neglect in answering your last letter. Judge Ed- 
wards' Court commenced on the third Monday 
of November last, and adjourns this day, and has 
been continued uninterruptedly since its com- 
mencement, except a few days during the Holidays. 
Having had 17 causes on the Calendar, and some 
of them very heavy ones, and having disposed of 
every one of them, you will readily perceive I 
have had employment enough. . . . 

Tell John that George improves very rapidly in 



44 letter* of <©♦ M. Strong 

reading. He is now reading Sandford and Merton 
in course, and goes from 6 to 10 pages a day. He 
has learnt to read with very singular facility. But 
as I have heretofore told you, I do not admire 
these precocious geniuses. I had rather see the 
mind mature gradually, and then its attainments 
may be confidently relied on. In this respect I 
think Eloise and George are perfectly at issue, and 
I confess I prefer the former. 

My love to all, and believe me to be, 

Yours sincerely, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: George Templeton Strong was born on January 26, 
1820; John was Mr. Lloyd's eldest son, John Nelson Lloyd, Jr. 



New York, 2d March, 1824. 

My Dear Sir: 

I have just received yours of the 28th ult°. I 
scarcely know whether I am pleased or otherwise 
at your determination to send me the mare. I 
should prefer her to any other horse I ever backed. 
But I fear that you wish to retain her, and that you 
part with her only from a disposition to oblige me. 
If she does not suit me, I shall not be less disap- 
pointed than yourself, and I promise in advance 



JLttttt* of <©. JBS. strong 45 

that I will not censure you for it. I shall provide 
lodgings for her immediately, and shall await her 
arrival with some degree of impatience. I shall 
provide one saddle and bridle. But as I never in 
my life owned a horse or other quadruped, to my 
recollection, except it may be a dog, I am very 
ignorant on this subject. Am I to have a crupper 
and cloth to the saddle? I know not what you 
mean by a "bridoon," but presume a saddler can 
tell me. As to spurs, as I never used them, I must 
be allowed to dispense with them, and when I am 
once fixed, I shall make the jade carry me about 
ten miles every morning before breakfast, if my 
life and health are spared. I do this from dire 
necessity, of which I am fully convinced from long 
experience, and not from a desire to imitate great 
men, for you must know that the judges and 
lawyers in England (whose labors, even at the 
age of 70 and 80 years, Justice Park is now about 
86, far exceeds that of any laborer on your farm), 
ride on horseback from 15 to 20 miles every day 
before breakfast, and then work until about 12 
at night. Sir James Mansfield lately died one of 
the Judges, at the age of, I believe, 91. Lord 
Mansfield did not go on the Bench till after he was 
60, and the imperishable fame which he acquired, 
and the immense benefit which he conferred upon 



46 Hettera of #. 5M. Strong 

posterity by his decisions, were of course all after 
that age. He lived nearly twenty miles from Lon- 
don, and besides riding backwards and forwards 
every day, was in the almost daily habit of chasing 
foxes before breakfast. Now I wish to imitate 
these men only as to their means of preserving 
health. Beyond that I do not aspire. 

We are all well, and beg kind remembrances to 
you and yours. 

Yours very sincerely, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 8^ March, 1824. 

My Dear Sir : 

With your letter of the I s * Inst. I received from 
Mr Sammis the mare, and put her in a stable of a 
M? Waters in Rector Street, just by my house. 
I have been on her back every morning since, 
before sunrise, and rode from 6 to 10 miles each 
time. . . . The exercise has already had a 
beneficial effect in divers ways. I am now engaged 
in a very tedious reference, in which we have had a 
great many meetings, and bid fair to have a great 
many more. They commence at 4 in the afternoon, 
and last till 10 and sometimes 12 at night. Before 



Hetter* of <&. W, strong 47 

I began to ride, I have been so beat out by 10 or 

II o. c. at night that I could scarcely stand up 
under it. But when we broke up last Saturday 
night, I was not fatigued at all, after a sitting which 
lasted uninterruptedly for more than 6 hours. 
This, in addition to the ordinary labor of the day 
from 8 till 4, you will perceive is pretty hard ser- 
vice, which calls for some bracing up. . . . 

We are all well, and beg kind remembrances to 
yourself and family. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of Mar. 27, 1824. 

I have not yet read Judge Marshall's opinion on 
the steamboat question. It requires more time 
and attention than I can conveniently bestow upon 
it at present. I never heard much of Marshall as a 
lawyer till three or four months ago, when D. B. 
Ogden gave me his character in full, both as a man 
and a judge. I find that he is considered the first 
judicial character in this country, beyond all com- 
petition. He decides, himself, every Constitutional 
question that comes before the Court, his associ- 



48 Hettera of <©. M. Strong 

ates paying implicit deference to his opinion. He 
very seldom consults adjudged cases, but relies 
upon the resources of his own mind. This is 
certainly very dangerous in a Judge, unless his 
reasoning powers are altogether superior, and ap- 
proximate the higher order of intelligence. He 
sometimes says to Story (who is a great book man, 
and as much so as Chancellor Kent), that he wants 
him to find for him a case establishing such a prin- 
ciple, telling him that he is sure that is the law, 
and Story says he always finds him correct. He 
gets up every morning at the dawn of day, and 
walks about four miles, meditating upon the case 
he is to decide. On his return he goes to his room, 
and there writes before breakfast his opinion upon 
the case, generally argued the preceding day. 
After breakfast he will go into Court and deliver it. 
He writes with astonishing expedition, and nearly 
as fast as one can read. The inclination of all his 
Constitutional decisions is to enlarge and extend 
the Constitution of the United States, and of course 
to abridge and fritter away State rights. The con- 
sequence is that the Court is getting very unpopu- 
lar, particularly in some of the Western states. 
And another consequence is that all parties wishing 
to impair the State rights bring their suits in the 
Federal Courts. Judge Tod (one of the Sup. 



Hetter* of <©. H. strong 49 

Court Judges), says he has on his Calendar in 
Kentucky nine hundred cases now undisposed of, 
although he holds his Court there the greater part 
of his time. Marshall's private character is not 
less singular than his judicial is illustrious. He 
lives in Richmond, not only goes to market him- 
self, but carries home his marketing himself. He 
is very often seen going along the streets with a 
basket or a large pumpkin on his head, . . . but 
possessing a most gigantic intellect, most thor- 
oughly disciplined and extensively improved, and 
no way impaired by age. 

Judge Edwards does pretty well, and much 
better than was anticipated. He is industrious and 
has evinced a thorough determination to keep 
down his Calendar. 

This State never before had such a feeble, in- 
efficient Supreme Court as the present. This Court 
is now the prominent defect of our Judicial system, 
and it seems to be now generally admitted, by all 
friends as well as foes, that this Court can not get 
along. The fault is wholly in the Judges, in their 
incompetency, and not in the organization of the 
Court, which is good, better than it was under the 
old Constitution. At the last term (which con- 
tinued, and by law must continue, four weeks), 
there were 600 causes on the Calendar, and only 



50 Hettera of 0. M. Strong 

about 30 argued. At the next Term there will, as is 
expected, be about 1000 on the Calendar. The 
fault in the Judges is that, owing to their popular- 
ity seeking and their timidity, they let the law- 
yers do as they please. Our Circuit Judges are all 
young, inexperienced men, in whom the public 
have not much confidence, and the consequence is 
that a great many cases are carried from them into 
the Supreme Court, which has created the great 
mass of causes there now pending for decision. 

Sanford carries into his Court all his characteris- 
tic caution. He decides no case till it has been 
fully argued, and then takes a long time to deliber- 
ate. All this is highly necessary on his part, for 
when he was appointed Chancellor he certainly 
knew very little of Chancery law. 

Note. It may perhaps be worth a suggestion that possibly 
Mr. Lloyd had asked Mr. Strong how Judge Marshall compared 
with the New York Judiciary, and that this letter was in answer 
thereto. Mr. David B. Ogden had appeared with distinction 
before Chief Justice Marshall in 1 820-2 1 . (Life of Marshall by 
A. J. Beveridge, Vol. 4, pp. 345, 346, 357.) 



Letter of April 3, 1824. 

A month having now expired, I believe I may 
venture to say that I consider the mare mine, and 
the $200 yours, whenever you please to call or 
send for it, and as to which it is perfectly conven- 



letter* of <©. W. Strong 51 

ient for me to pay it now, and any delay on your 
part will be no accommodation to me. I ask no 
abatement of the price, for I have asked no one to 
value the mare, and I am perfectly willing to allow 
that sum for her. 

It would be a little singular if I should contract 
a strong attachment to horses, and yet I fear there 
is some danger of it. I have rode today nearly 
twenty miles. I got out of bed precisely at half 
past five. Besides dressing myself, I made a fire 
and the next time I looked at my watch it was five 
minutes past six, when I was opposite the Church 
at Bloomingdale. I ride every day when the 
weather will possibly permit, Sunday excepted. 
But I do it all before breakfast, and while I should 
otherwise be in bed, except Saturdays, when I take 
a short ride just before sunset. ... I had al- 
most forgotten the enclosed Letter from Eloise. 
I see it is in French, which, I have told her, I fear 
you will not understand. She says, however, that 
you do understand it, and that you desired her to 
write you such a letter. 



Letter of April 16, 1824. 

I was in hopes by this time to see my way clear 
for making you a visit. But our Courts prevent 



52 Hetter* of <©. W. Strong 

me, and I fear will continue to do so for some days 
yet to come. Next week I have a very interesting 
Patent cause coming on before Judge Thompson, 
in the Circuit Court of the United States. It is 
about a Patent for a Metallic stop-back. Staples 
of New Haven is to be here to take a part in the 
trial. On the one side are Emmet, Staples, Slosson 
and Law, and on the other, Colden, Griffin and 
myself. At least thirty witnesses are coming from 
New Haven, besides several from Philadelphia and 
Albany, and a host here in New York. I have often 
thought that this cause would be very interesting 
to Uncle Harry, would his sight enable him to see 
the component parts in detail of all the various 
backs which we have ready to exhibit, in order to 
show that the back in question is not the original 
invention of the Patentee. I think we shall defeat 
him almost to a certainty. While I have such a 
cause resting on my mind, you will readily per- 
ceive that going into the country on a jaunt of 
pleasure is utterly out of the question. 

The cause of Udall and Kenney has been de- 
cided, and the decree of the Chancellor in M r ? 
Kenney's favor has been unanimously affirmed, 
except that the Court of Errors has allowed D r . 
Udall the dividends on the stock to the date of the 
Chancellor's decree. The Chancellor allowed him 



ILzttttg of <g. WL. strong 53 

the dividends down to the time the bill was filed. 
This will give the D^ $200 or 300 more, but which 
will be nothing like adequate to his expenses in the 
Court of Errors. I feel very much disposed on this 
occasion to say that the Senators were "perfect 
Solomons" in judgment. 



Letter of Aug. 20, 1824. 

The City during the present week has presented 
nothing but bustle and confusion, in consequence 
of the arrival of the Marquis La Fayette. Such 
another display was never witnessed here before, 
and it would seem as if the people could not honor 
him enough. I cannot really convey to you any 
adequate ideas on this subject, and must refer you 
to the papers for particulars. I had the honor of 
taking him by the hand yesterday. He is most 
emphatically the man of the People. 

My rides to and from Jamaica are extremely 
delightful, more so than those I formerly took on 
York Island. 



Letter of Oct. 20, 1824. 

I begin by the time it is clearly light, and I ride 
at least an hour. I have, however, changed my 



54 Hetter* of <©. UL Strong 

rides, so that I now confine them entirely to the 
populous parts of the City. I have rode out of 
town till I have become disgusted with the roads, 
from long familiarity with them. In town I find 
variety enough. I select the new parts of the City, 
and those with which I am the least acquainted, 
-such as around Coerlear's Hook, through the 
Bowery, Greenwich, and the intermediate streets 
between it and Broadway. I had no adequate 
conception before of the extent of the city. This 
plan, if my life is spared, I intend to pursue 
till I become perfectly familiar with every part 
of the city. I not only learn the streets, their 
situations and bearings, but the public build- 
ings and improvements, which, with the very 
fine weather, renders my present rides more in- 
teresting than at any former period. There are 
perhaps about 50 miles of streets through the 
thickly settled part of the City, and it will take 
me a good while to become so familiar with 
them as to carry them in my mind's eye. The 
information itself will be useful to me, and I 
feel an ambition (perhaps rather silly, as all am- 
bition generally is), to become better acquainted 
with the geography of the City than any other 
person in it, and I am now in a fair way to 
succeed. 



Hetter* of <§. M. strong 55 

Letter of May 9, 1825. 

I have received your letter of the 7 th Inst., 
enclosing $175, being M* Gould's rent due on the 
I s * of April last. I do not care anything about his 
paying at present the money which he owes me. 
I had however been led to expect it by the first of 
May, and calculated accordingly. I have however 
got along without it, and do not therefore now 
need it. By the by, money is now much in demand 
here. It will readily command 7 per cent. I 
however decline receiving more than 6. I think 
we shall soon have failures here in abundance. 
We have got speculation mad again. In Boston 
the pressure is very heavy and extensive. 



Letter of Nov. 23, 1825. 

I should like to say a few things to you on the 
subject of fame, but I have time only to remark 
that the fame of most lawyers is literally not worth 
having, and that Lord Mansfield's idea on the 
subject is the only true one, viz: "that which 
follows, not that which is run after," and among 
the great mass of lawyers, where you find one 
whose fame survives him for any length of time, 
you will find 10,000 whose corse and fame are 



56 Hetter* of #. W. Strong 

interred together in the same grave. If, when I 
am gone, the world will tell my children that I was 
an honest man, it will be full as much as I deserve, 
and all that I ask. I am very happy to hear that 
you propose soon to come down here, and I hope 
you will so arrange matters as to stay at my house. 



New York, 6th Jany. 1826. 

My Dear Sir: 

I am in receipt of your interesting letter of the 
30th ulto. I well remember the visit to which you 
refer, and almost every incident of it is as fresh in 
my recollection as if it had occurred only yester- 
day. On our way up, which was by water (Strong 
Conklin, Master), we came to at Huntington Gut, 
waiting for the tide, went ashore on the Neck, took 
tea at your Uncle's, and got to your Mama's 
between 10 & 11. That was the first time I ever 
set my foot on Lloyd's Neck. . . . 

Yours very sincerely, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of Jan. 13, 1826. 

I feel a little anxious to have the wood Account 
closed as soon as may be convenient, for I am dis- 



better* of <g. ML Strong 57 

gusted with the sight of my children's accounts in 
the manner in which for the last four years I have 
been necessarily compelled to keep them. With 
regard to their maternal estate I wish to do them 
ample justice, and should their and my lives be 
spared till they reach 21, and I meet with no dis- 
asters in the investment of their property, I should 
wish my accounts to exhibit a salutary example to 
those who may thereafter have the controul of it. 
With a capital at the beginning of about $2300 in 
1 8 19, 1 should be gratified to live to see what it will 
amount to in 1831, when Eloise will come of age. 
It certainly will be no great affair, but it may per- 
haps be useful to shew what may be done by con- 
stant safe and prudent investments. 



New York, 18^ March, 1826. 

My Dear Sir : 

. . . George is now quite seriously indisposed, 
having some fever and a very disordered stomach. 
I called in D* Post this morning to see him. H 
was highly gratified with your message. But you 
give him credit for more than he is entitled to, he 
being past 6 instead of 5 years. It, however, can- 
not be denied (making all due allowances for 
parental partiality), that his attainments are very 



58 Hetter* of <S. Wl. strong 

unusual for one of his years. This is attributable 
to no extraordinary capacity on his part, but solely 
to the manner in which he is instructed by his 
mother. He first reads, and instead of committing 
it to memory, it is made the subject of conversation 
till he perfectly understands what he has read, and 
which he usually repeats to me when I come home. 
He is now reading, and has nearly completed, the 
history of the American Revolution, and it is 
literally true that he knows and has at his com- 
mand more facts connected with it than I do. The 
consequence is that he has lost all his relish for 
steam boats, and talks principally about being a 
soldier. If, however, he inherits any of his father's 
disposition, I have but little fear that he will take 
up arms as his profession, should his life be spared. 
Have you and Mr. Mott closed your bargain? 
And if so, if it be no secret, what is the price? I 
think you do well in selling rather than buying. 
Suppose you get even $3,000, how could you make 
$180 per annum off of the whole farm? I am per- 
suaded that money well secured on loan is, on the 
whole, the most profitable investment that can be 
made, and this leads me to make one remark more 
(which is rather wandering from the subject), viz., 
that the modern notion of abolishing usury laws, 
and which I believe our Legislature will adopt, is 



letters* of <©. Wi. strong 59 

one of the most pernicious principles that ever 
entered the head of a Legislator. Let men say and 
write what they please, I shall never cease to be- 
lieve (until convinced by actual observation to the 
contrary), that it is impossible for this community 
to get along without the aid of usury laws. All 
that I have seen written on the subject serves only 
to convince me that the writers do not understand 
the subject. They look at only isolated cases, 
without tracing out the principle in all its ramifica- 
tions, as exemplified in its practical operations. 
I can put hundreds of cases of daily occurrence in 
which one of three things must take place; I?*, 
either there must be a law prohibiting excess of 
interest, 2 nd , or a Court of Chancery must without 
such a law interfere upon general principles, and 
grant relief on the ground of unconscientious bar- 
gains, or, 3 rd , the distressed and necessitous must 
incessantly fall victims to the overreaching cupid- 
ity of the rich. I can have no patience with the 
advocates of this new fangled doctrine, and altho 
the law will probably have no effect upon me, either 
favorably or otherwise, yet I cannot but feel for 
others, and reprobate the stupidity of its advocates. 
Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



60 betters of <©. M. Strong 

New York, 16^ June, 1826. 

My Dear Sir: 

I have received your letters of the io 1 * 1 and 11 th 
Inst. I shall follow your advice and keep the mare. 
I know not where I could procure another which 
would suit me as well. . . . 

Mary and George have been drooping for some 
time, occasioned probably by the heat. They and 
their mother are now at board at Whitestone near 
Flushing bay. Last Tuesday I took them to Nor- 
walk in the John Marshall, and landed them at 
Whitestone on our return. I have left them this 
morning and they are much better. All they re- 
quired was country air. . . . Eloise is keeping 
house for me and goes to school. She will go with 
me to Whitestone tomorrow evening, and return 
on Monday morning. . . . 

Remember me kindly to your family, and believe 
me to continue, 

Yours very sincerely, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of July 28, 1826. 

You never saw the like to what is daily passing 
in Wall street. Such another set of gamblers were 
never congregated before. I know of several in- 



Hetter* of <g. M. Strong 61 

dividuals who hold from $40,000 to $60,000 of 
Life and Fire bonds now not worth a cent, in- 
dividuals, too, very prudent, retired from business, 
and who, in making the investments, considered 
themselves as perfectly safe. No one can say how 
. . . stands now. His credit and character are 
entirely gone. The public indignation against him 
is very strong and general. 

How shall I contrive to get my girls to your 
house ? I would come myself with great pleasure, 
but I cannot leave here at present. 



Letter of Aug. 3, 1826. 

I believe you are now fully apprised of my views. 
If Heaves are catching, I have no wish to inoculate 
your horses. But if compelled to give her away, 
(which I should do in preference to selling her for a 
small sum, say $20 or $30), I should give you the 
preference, if inclined to take her. Whether she is 
curable or not I cannot say, nor whether her disease 
will prevent her breeding. I am very sorry to part 
with her, but on this subject my mind is made up, 
and sooner than part with her to a person who 
would maltreat her, I would hire some person to 
shoot her. I do not well see how I can suspend my 
system of riding for any length of time, and should 



62 Hetter* of <©. ML Strong 

like to make some arrangement as soon as may be. 
I still continue to ride the mare, and have been out 
with her this morning. 



Letter of October 31, 1826. 

I regret that James has gone to jail. I fully- 
anticipated this result till you expressed a confident 
opinion, or rather Gould, that the money would be 
raised in Huntington. But I have often found 
people talk very big till the matter arrived to the 
point of putting their hands into their pocket, 
when all of a sudden they flinch. 

I for my own part feel unwilling to continue 
James in jail, and should prefer letting him out. 
The terms upon which he is to come out you will 
make agreeable to yourself, and I will abide by 
them. I shall also be ready and willing to meet my 
share of the expense. You may find some difficulty 
in getting him out without a written authority from 
Mr. McCoun, the lawyer. 

Note: Conklin Gould was Mr. Strong's and his daughters' 
tenant-farmer on Lloyd's Neck, and a neighbour of Mr. Lloyd's. 



Letter of Dec. 26, 1826. 

Time does indeed pass rapidly away, and makes 
sad havoc as it goes. We were, as it were yester- 



Hetlera of <§. M. Strong 63 

day, boys, we are now middle-aged, and, should our 
lives be spared, we shall very soon be old men. 
. . . Enclosed I hand you a letter from Eloise, in 
French, which if you can read, you can do more 
than I can. My boy George grows more and more 
fond of books. Perhaps I should not exceed the 
truth, although I might incur the imputation of 
parental partiality, were I to say he is the most 
learned boy of his age of any in this city. He 
studies reading, writing, history and botany with 
his mother, astronomy and grammar under Eloise, 
and Latin under me. Brother Thomas has re- 
cently been here, and considers him a perfect 
prodigy in learning, but he will be good for nothing 
else. 



New York, 6th April, 1827. 

My Dear Sir : 

... I feel as if I ought to mention a subject of 
some delicacy to you, and it must be in confidence, 
so far that you will be very careful what use you 
make of it. For something like a year past it has 
been intimated to me that my student, Mr. . . . 
was partially deranged. The intimation came 
from his fellow students. I have watched him very 
narrowly, but could discover nothing to counte- 
nance the supposition, except that latterly he has 



64 Hetter* of <©. UL strong 

fallen off very much in his studies, and appears to 
have lost most that he has learned. He was to take 
his examination next May, and I have doubted 
much whether I ought not to advise him to defer 
his examination, lest he might be turned by. He 
has, however, latterly left the office, and I am 
this morning told that he has gone in the country, 
(probably home), and that such has been his de- 
portment where he has lodged as to impress his 
fellow boarders with the belief that he is deranged. 
I am at a loss to act in this matter. Had I been 
previously satisfied that such was the fact, I would 
have immediately communicated it to his father. 
It may be that his parents have no suspicions of it, 
and to say anything about it may be doing him a 
lasting injury, should the fact turn out otherwise. 
I have therefore, heretofore, cautiously abstained 
from saying or intimating anything on the subject. 
I am anxious to learn whether he has gone home ; 
although I am now not fully satisfied that he is 
deranged, yet I greatly fear that he is. Should you 
hear anything on the subject, I beg you to com- 
municate it to me. I know it is asking too much, 
but if you had an inclination to take a ride to 
Dosoris about this time, I wish you would go. 
Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 



TLttttv* of <©. W. strong 65 

New York, 6th July, 1827. 

My Dear Sir: 

I write you a few words by your son, John, to 
thank you for his visit, and to say that he has con- 
ducted himself very well. The poor boy almost 
perished the day he came down from the excessive 
heat, and the crowded state of the stage, and when 
he got to my house he was almost overcome with 
fatigue. He had no appetite, and a violent head- 
ache. Last night he went to the Theatre, and this 
evening he has gone to the Circus. Perhaps it is 
right and proper that he should visit such places 
once, but this morning he complained bitterly of 
the headache. He confesses that he should pass his 
time more agreeably at home at work. But I leave 
him to tell his own story to you, and I have no doubt 
he will have enough to relate of what he has seen and 
heard. The girls and I left Whitestone yesterday 
morning, and shall return there again tomorrow 
evening. We are all well and beg kind regards. 

Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of July 20, 1827. 

Eloise is at present my housekeeper in which 
new situation she acquits herself very much to my 



66 better* of <©. W. Strong 

satisfaction. I am much pleased with her in this 
respect, as it is indicative of future usefulness, 
should her life be spared. 



New York, 20th August, 1827. 

My Dear Sir: 

Yours of the 18^ Inst, is just received, and for 
your solicitude about my recent illness I feel much 
obliged. 

I have indeed been sick, and more so than I ever 
was before. I was confined to the house just one 
week. What was precisely the matter with me I 
cannot say. Dr. Post, from his treatment, ap- 
peared to apprehend something serious, but what 
he did not say. My difficulty was in my head, and 
my belief is it was produced by the excessive hot 
weather which we have had. Be that as it may, 
I feel, deeply feel, the force of what you say. I 
consider an entire change in my course of life as 
indispensable, and I began it as soon as I got out 
again, and which may be indicated in general by 
universal moderation. . . . 

I know I have laboured too hard both bodily 
and mentally. This, I hope, has not proceeded 
from a love of filthy lucre, but rather from a dis- 
position to do, and to do properly, such profes- 
sional business as has been confided to me. I now 



lUtters of <©. M- Strong 67 

want a little relaxation, but how to take it I know 
not, as I am almost entirely alone, every clerk 
being off in the country and business very pressing. 
I intend, however, this week to break off and go 
to the Catskill Mountains, and next week I hope 
to come and see you and bring the girls with me. 
We are all well, and beg kind remembrances to 

you and yours. 

Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 



Letter of Sept. 21, 1827. 

You have, as I understand the matter, the right 
without my permission, and at any rate you shall 
have the permission without the right, to cart your 
wood across the meadows. On my own account, 
I certainly do not want, nor do I desire, the money 
you refer to, and yet I am very glad that you pro- 
pose to pay it off. Every man knows his own busi- 
ness best, but I confess I should not like to hire 
money in the expectation of making more than the 
interest. Although, therefore, I do not want the 
money, and feel perfectly confident that I cannot 
place it where it will be more safe, or where the 
interest will be paid with more punctuality, or less 
trouble to myself, yet I must be allowed to repeat 



68 JLttttvti of <©. M. strong 

that I am glad to hear you say you mean to pay it 
off. ... It may possibly appear to you a little 
strange why I write thus to you. But my reason 
is simply that I have an absolute abhorrence of 
paying interest, and I cannot withhold from those 
in whose welfare I take a real interest, a part at 
least of the same feeling. 



Letter of Nov. 5, 1827. 

I have no doubt whatever that you perfectly 
well understand your own business, and that you 
attend very strictly to your own interest. I know 
of very few men who, in my estimation, exceed you 
in this respect. I intended in my previous letter 
to have said that, as a general rule, I disliked hiring 
money with a view to investing it in some other 
way, by which it could be made to produce more 
than interest. I know that with new beginners, 
without capital, this is sometimes unavoidable. 
But very often calculations of this kind prove falla- 
cious. The point of my objection is this — that it 
subjects the borrower to a double risk. He has to 
pay at all events, and if he loses on the reinvest- 
ment he is without redress. This consideration 
has induced me to lay it down as a general rule, 



ilettera of <&. W. Strong 69 

from which I never deviate, viz., to avoid being in 
debt, and to invest only surplus, and to invest it 
but in one way, viz., loan. Pursuing this plan, the 
amount accumulates gradually and progressively, 
and having but one object in view, every successive 
receipt of money is made contributory to it. This 
simple statement discloses the whole secret to 
which I am indebted for what little property I am 
worth. I mention it to you because I know you are 
a very competent judge on the subject, and be- 
cause, if you approve of it, I should like to have 
you adopt it. 



Letter of Dec. 28, 1827. 

In one of your former letters you asked me my 
opinion of Mr. Webster. I did not hear him. But 
he is unquestionably a first rate man. As a lawyer, 
I should rank him the first in this country, and so 
I understand he is rated by the Supreme Court of 
the United States. Is it not a little singular that 
very great men, in all ages and countries, should 
generally utterly neglect their moneyed concerns. 
I am told that in this respect Mr. W. is a perfect 
child, that he neither understands nor pays any 
attention to his private affairs, and is consequently 
most deeply embarrassed. 



70 ICetter* of #. ML Strong 

New York, 31st Dec, 1827. 

My Dear Sir : 

Yours of yesterday is received, and having fin- 
ished my labors for the year 1827, I will indulge 
myself in writing a few lines to you. You mistake 
my former letter if you infer from it that I think 
Mr. Webster's greatness consists in his law knowl- 
edge. I think far differently. Chancellor Kent, 
Judge Story, and men of that class, are great for 
their law knowledge. C. J. Marshall is and C. J. 
Parsons, Mr. Pinkney and Mr. Wells were, great 
in another sense, that is, in their arguments they 
relied not so much on books as on the resources of 
their own minds. Greatness in this latter sense is 
esteemed greater than that in the former. Take 
almost any case, either of law or fact, and if all 
that is said on it be taken from the books, it will 
cut but a sorry figure. I suppose Chancellor Kent 
could cite offhand 50 cases to Webster's one on 
any given subject, and yet, before either Court or 
Jury, the odds in favor of Webster would be great 
indeed. . . . 

I felt a little gratified by an occurrence which 
came to my knowledge some time ago, and, as I am 
probably indebted to you for it, and as it concerns 
a near relative whom you highly value, I will men- 
tion it to you, but in the strictest confidence, for 



Hettera of <&. W. Strong 71 

upon no other condition should I feel justified in 
alluding to it. It seems that your kinsman, the 
Hon. Mr. James Lloyd, has conceived the idea 
that this city is to become the vast emporium of 
this part of the world, and he has accordingly de- 
termined to invest a large amount of his capital in 
the purchase of real estate in the upper parts of 
the city, say in Broadway, about Bond Street. He 
has instructed his agent or broker to that effect, 
and in his letter he states that he shall require, as 
an indispensable condition in every case, my writ- 
ten opinion as to the title. You will at once per- 
ceive that this is placing me under pretty heavy 
professional responsibility. I am at a loss to con- 
ceive how I have acquired his confidence, for I 
have never exchanged a word with him since I was 
a student in Yale College. However, I will not 
abuse his confidence, and I mean to take special 
care that the event shall not show that it was mis- 
placed. We all know he understands his own inter- 
ests perfectly well, and it struck me with a little 
surprise that he should entrust such an important 
measure to a person about whom he can know 
nothing, except from the representation of others. 
How far he may find his expectations of profit 
realised, I am at a loss to say. In the immediate 
neighborhood of where he is buying, a person three 



72 better* of <©• M. strong 

years ago refused to give $5,000 for a lot which he 
has since paid $11,000 for. On the other hand, 
Mr. Lloyd's agent has recently bought a lot for 
$8,000, which some months ago was sold for $9,000. 
At a venture, if I had his money I would invest it at 
six per cent on unquestionable bonds and mort- 
gages, in preference to this speculation. However, 
what I say to you on this subject you must con- 
sider entirely confidential, and perhaps I have done 
wrong in alluding to it at all. 

With my best wishes to yourself and children, 
of many happy returns of this congratulatory 
season, I remain, 



Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 



JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Note: James Lloyd, Jr., L.L.D., grandson of Henry Lloyd 
and Rebecca Nelson Lloyd, the great-grandparents of John 
Nelson Lloyd, was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1787, 
and U. S. Senator from Massachusetts in 1808 and again in 1822. 
He was a nephew of Margaret Lloyd (the mother of Anna Smith, 
wife of Judge Selah Strong), and first cousin, once removed, of 
John Nelson Lloyd. He resided at this time in Philadelphia. 



Letter of Jan. 18, 1828. 

I recollect your mentioning to me, some time 
ago, the circumstance of John's dog killing your 



better* of <@. W. strong 73 

sheep. I thought then, as I think now, that your 
views were not quite correct. 

At common law, the owner of a mischievous 
animal is not responsible for any injury it may do, 
unless it be proved that, previous to the injury, 
the owner knew of the vicious propensity of the 
animal. Thus my dog kills your sheep. At com- 
mon law, I am not liable to you, unless you can 
show that, previous to that act, I knew that such 
was the habit of my dog. This is perfectly well 
settled law, and such were the evil consequences 
resulting from it, as applied to dogs killing sheep, 
that the Legislature, two years ago, interfered, and 
altered the common law in this respect, so as to 
subject the owner of the dog to damages for killing 
sheep, whether he knew of the vicious propensity 
of the dog or not, provided the owner of the sheep 
killed procured a written certificate of two fence 
viewers of the town in which he resides, that the 
sheep had been killed by a dog, and stating their 
value. Now I fear you are deficient both as to your 
common law and statute remedy. As to the first, 
that you cannot bring home to John what we term 
the scienter, that is, that he knew the vicious pro- 
pensity of his dog, and, secondly, that you have 
not obtained the certificate of the fence-viewers, 
and cannot now obtain it, as it is to be granted 



74 Hetters of #, ML Strong 

only on a view of the dead sheep. Such are the 
intricacies and quirks of the law. This, however, 
I cannot help. You ask me for my opinion, 
and I must serve you as I serve anybody else, 
that is, give it frankly, whether unfavorable or 
favorable. 

Note: "John" was perhaps John Cogswell and a cousin of 
Mr. Lloyd's. 



New York, 12th Feb'y, 1828. 

My Dear Sir: 

Yours of the 6th is duly received. You have 
probably seen by the newspapers the death of Mrs. 
Templeton. She died on the 8th instant, after an 
illness of only a few days. It is difficult to say 
what her complaint was. It appeared to be a 
sudden decay of all her powers of life. She has 
left her daughters very disconsolate, and I was 
for a short time after her dissolution very appre- 
hensive as to the effect of it upon her youngest 
daughter, Jane. . . . We are all well, except 
Mrs. Strong, who feels her affliction most acutely, 
and beg kind remembrances to you and your 
family. 

Yours truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 



Letters; of <£. W. strong 75 

New York, 28th Mar., 1828. 

My Dear Sir : 

Since writing the enclosed, Mrs. Strong has lost 
her Aunt Barton, who died on Tuesday last of old 
age, without any apparent indisposition, and 
without any previous indication of her approach- 
ing dissolution, except for about 24 hours. She 
was upwards of 90 years of age. She was the 
eldest of seven brothers and sisters, all of whom 
she survived. She retained her mental faculties 
unimpaired to the day preceding her death, when 
she lost the power of speech, and down to that 
period had the sole control of her pecuniary affairs, 
and managed the same, through a long life, with 
great prudence and success. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: Mrs. Barton was the sister of Mrs. Oliver Templeton, 
whose decease is mentioned in the preceding letter. Both these 
ladies were daughters of Dr. William (Massey) Brownejohn and 
Mary Page Brownejohn. Mrs. Templeton was the mother of 
the second wife of George W. Strong. Mrs. Templeton 's other 
children were Gulielma, Olivia and Jane, all of whom died un- 
married, and Maria, who married William Johnson. Mrs. Barton 
was married to Lieutenant Colonel Barton, stationed at Staten 
Island and New York, with the English Army, in the Revolution. 
His Order-book, of the orders daily issued from Head-quarters 
(containing a reference to Major Andre, and to Lord Cornwallis 
and others), is still in existence, in the possession of the present 
editor. Dr. Brownejohn's name will be found in a lecture on 
" The Coaches of Colonial New York," delivered before the New 



76 Hettera of <S. WL strong 



York Historical Society by George W. W. Houghton in 1890, 
at p. 25. He is said to have owned much land in New York City, 
South of Wall St. 



Letter of March 17, 1828. 

You have doubtless seen in the newspapers a 
great deal about the "law's delay," in this city. 
The noise that has been made about it has led to 
a law, (not yet passed, but which it is understood 
will pass), for the creation of a new Court in this 
city, which will require four members, that is, 
three judges and one Vice-Chancellor. Where the 
timber is to come from, it is difficult to say. That 
of a good quality and of domestic growth will be 
required, but, to be frank with you, my name has 
been mentioned among others. I have uniformly 
thought the law would not pass, and have said I 
would have nothing to do with office, but as the 
law will now in all probability pass, I have thought 
more seriously on the subject, and, all things con- 
sidered, I have made up my mind that, should one 
of these offices be offered to me, I will not accept it. 
There is no real inducement to accept office in 
this country. The pay is too small. There is no 
official dignity. The duties are very laborious. 
The incumbent becomes a slave, is dependent, 



better* of <©. ML Strong 77 

not on the will merely, but the caprice of the people. 
On the whole I say, once for all, I will remain as I 
am. Say nothing about this. 



Letter of March 24, 1828. 

You know probably that Governor Clinton and 
Judge Edwards were deadly hostile to each other. 
I have always thought that Clinton's letter to him 
was written with a most malignant spirit, and I 
must say I think Edwards' answer was full and 
satisfactory. Clinton admits that a power of sus- 
pending the execution in extreme cases must rest 
somewhere, and he thinks it belongs to the Sheriff. 
But surely the Court who tried the criminal, and 
know all the testimony, must be presumed more 
competent judges in this respect than the Sheriff, 
who is not presumed to know anything about the 
matter. I do not know a judicial officer in this 
State who has rendered himself so unpopular as 
Judge Edwards. I understand that several leading 
members of the Senate are anxious to impeach him. 
His dilatory manner of doing business has given 
rise to the project of a new Court. But he is an 
honest man, and the great objection to him is that 
he is not a man of business. 



78 Hetters of <£. W, Strong 

My plan for life has been determined upon for 
years. Should my life be spared till my income 
will yield me a comfortable support, I intend to 
change my mode of business. Hitherto I have 
worked for a subsistence, adding my income to my 
capital, and a little more. When that income is an 
adequate support, I mean to depend upon it, do 
business for the sake of employment, and add the 
proceeds of it to my capital. I have no doubt that 
in this way I can be useful. I should, of course, de- 
cline all business in which I did not like to embark. 
But thus far my professional life has been very 
much that of a slave, and I look forward with 
some impatience to the time when I can relax. 
I hope less than five years will bring me to that 
period. But as to office, I want and will have 
none. ... A private station, with a competent 
income, a good library of books, and business 
enough for employment, is infinitely preferable. 

Note: In the passage indicated by points, Mr. Strong men- 
tions the Hon. Samuel Jones, who, as Chancellor, in 1826-28, 
preceded Chancellor Walworth, and adverts to certain difficulties 
in his situation. 



Letter of April io, 1828. 

I expect the pleasure of seeing you here on or 
before the first of May, and must insist on more of 



Uettera of <©. W. Strong 79 

your time at my house than you have latterly ex- 
tended to me. I will see that the Deed is duly pre- 
pared by that time for your execution. As Mr. 
Howard is to pay you in cash the purchase money, 
I do not know what disposition you propose to 
make of it. If you mean to apply it, or rather a 
part of it, towards the debt of my daughters or 
myself, I should like to be apprised of it a short 
time previous. At the same time, I wish you dis- 
tinctly to understand that I have no wish whatever 
that it should be so applied, as I am under no 
subsisting engagement that would call for it. 
Money, however, is now very much wanted in this 
City, and any amount can be invested in Bond and 
Mortgage with entire safety at 6 or perhaps 7 per 
cent. Six satisfies all my desires, and I sincerely 
hope I may never live to see the day when I shall 
want more. Do, therefore, just as you please 
about it, as I am entirely content it should remain 
where it is, just as long as you want it. 



Letter of May 23d, 1828. 

The Courts are now crowding upon us, and I am 
very much hurried. You have no conception 
what a strong inclination I have for a little relaxa- 



80 Hettera of <©. W. Strong 

tion and repose. The situation of one of your 
hired men is enviable, when compared with mine. 
I intend, if I possibly can, to come up after Eloise. 



Letter of Sept. 29, 1828. 

I certainly did expect to pay you a visit with my 
family before this. We intended to go to Montaug 
Point, stopping at the Neck either the one way or 
the other. But the very alarming accounts of sick- 
ness on Long Island prevented us. From the ac- 
counts which I have heard of the sickness at 
Jamaica, Newtown and the Hempsteads, I would 
much prefer taking my chance in this City during 
the Yellow Fever, than at either of those places. 
Jamaica is nearly depopulated, and John Tredwell 
tells me it is travelling Eastward. He has had two 
deaths in his family, and, according to his account, 
there is scarcely a family in his vicinity free from 
sickness. We therefore concluded to change our 
route. Week before last, all my family, (except 
Eloise, who would not go on account of her terror 
of steamboats), and myself, went to Connecticut, 
visiting New Haven, Middletown, Wethersfield, 
Huntington &c, and returned home yesterday 
week. We had a very agreeable excursion. Eloise 



Hetter* of <&. ML strong 81 

stayed with her Aunt Templetons. A visit on Long 
Island, at the present time, I should consider ex- 
tremely unsafe. I hope, however, to make one in 
the course of the Fall, and to call on you. 

Eloise is now engaged in taking lessons on the 
Guitar and in drawing. She attends each week 
day except Saturday. I have lately purchased her 
a handsome Piano Forte at $260. She has im- 
proved very much in drawing, and I intend, if she 
lives, that she shall do a piece for you. 



Letter of Dec. 6, 1828. 

My George has at last commenced going to 
school in good earnest. The third day he got head 
of his class. His ambition is highly excited, and he 
has begun upon the high pressure principle. I 
consider this a great point gained in regard to his 
future prospects in life. 



Letter of Dec. 26, 1828. 

Eloise has finished the landscape for you, and 
the same has been framed and boxed and sent to 
M r White's store, where it now is waiting an 
opportunity to be sent to you. It is too large, I 
think, to go by stage, and I am not acquainted 



82 Hettera of <©. ML Strong 

with any of the Huntington or Cold Spring boat- 
men, at least with those who are known to be 
careful. Will you speak to some one, and ask him 
either to send to the store for it, or to let me know, 
and I will send it on board his vessel. 

I shall have, my good Sir, in the course of a day 
or two, to draw upon your goodness so far as to 
ask you to go to Huntington and see Judge Potter, 
in relation to a certain controversy now pending 
in the State of Ohio between the representatives 
of the deceased General Cummings, late of Newark, 
and the representatives of the deceased General 
Schenck, late of Ohio, (son of the late Parson 
Schenck). 

Letter of Jan. io, 1829. 

Next Monday, the trial of Mr. Coles for the 
property on Broadway comes on. Never was there 
a clearer case, and scarcely ever was there one 
better or more thoroughly prepared. If Col. Burr 
does not get signally defeated this time, I shall be 
disappointed and mortified most sorely. 



Letter of Jan. 26, 1829. 

Mr. Coles' cause has been tried, and, as I antici- 
pated, resulted in a complete discomfiture of the 



Hettera of <g. ML Strong 83 

enemy. The Court would not hear the evidence 
through, on the part of the plaintiff, and the Jury, 
without leaving their seats, returned a verdict in 
our favor. Mr. Coles is highly gratified at the 
result, more especially as it is against Col. Burr, 
who, you may have heard, is celebrated for ripping 
up old titles, as to which it is certainly true that he 
has heretofore been remarkably successful. Mr. 
Coles is now in full possession again of the pre- 
mises, according to law, and by way of inflicting a 
little punishment upon his adversary, I prohibited 
him from taking away his board fence, which he, 
of course, loses, besides a pretty heavy bill of costs. 



Letter of Feb. 13, 1829. 

We have now a project on foot to get a Vice- 
Chancery Court for this City. It would be a great 
benefit, but I fear it will not succeed. I am one of a 
Committee to correspond with the Governor about 
it. He is in favor of it, but, strange to tell, it is 
shrewdly suspected that his influence with the 
Legislature is already paralyzed. He has been 
defeated in several favorite projects. I have 
omitted to say anything to you about . . . 
the late Attorney General of the State, and brother 



84 Hettertf of <©. SB. strong 

of . . . He has resided for a year or two in this 
City. He has latterly given himself up completely, 
soul and body, to drunkenness. He does no busi- 
ness, and is seldom seen out. You have no idea of 
him. Such men as Chancellor Kent, Daniel Web- 
ster of Boston and David B. Ogden of this City, 
say of him that he possesses the best legal head of 
any man they ever came in contact with. 

You will pay me just as much and just as little 
money as you please, only let me know the probable 
amount and time, about one month beforehand. 

My health is very good. Every afternoon about 
5 o. c. I leave my office, and walk up to Eighth 
Street and back, let the weather be what it may. 



Letter of March 5, 1829. 

. . . resigned as Attorney-General in the 
course of the last summer. He has gone to Wash- 
ington, to argue the cause of the Sailors' Snug 
Harbor. When the cause was tried here, he did it 
most complete justice. . . . When the Court of 
Errors sat here last summer, he was engaged for 
De Peyster to argue his cause with Clarkson, about 
which a good deal has been said in the papers. 
. . . had the post of honor assigned to him, that 
is, to speak last. His adversary concluded his 



ILttttx* of <©. ML strong 85 

argument by remarking to the Court that to ex- 
amine and understand the papers and accounts 
correctly was a most Herculean task. When he 
sat down, . . . who was most lordly drunk at 
the time, and who, when he is so, looks the fool as 
completely as you ever saw one, got up and said 
that this was the first time he ever heard that 
Hercules was a mathematician, and, after adding 
that the case was too plain for argument, he sat 
down again. His client lost the cause, and poor 
. . . gave a stab to his reputation that he will 
never get over. . . . The right of fishery in 
navigable waters resides in the sovereignty, in 
England in the King, with us in the People. We 
have never recognized the Indians as sovereigns. 
The utmost effect that we have ever given to their 
grants is to convey the soil. The claim of fishery, 
therefore, as derived from them, could not be 
sustained. 

Note: The latter part of this letter refers to Mr. Lloyd's 
attempt to protect the oyster-flats adjacent to Lloyd's Neck 
against depredators, and the matter is extensively referred to in 
these letters. 



Letter of June 12, 1829. 

I am very sorry to hear the disaster that befell 
M T . . . . last Saturday. Pray write me soon 



86 Hetter* of #. M. Strong 

and let me know how he is. What are his circum- 
stances? Is he supplied with the ordinary com- 
forts of life ? If not, let me know it, and I will send 
you some money for him, or, if his necessities are 
urgent, supply them forthwith and I will refund. 
I should consider $50 or $100 spent in this way, 
if really necessary, by no means improvidently 
laid out. 



New York, 10^ July, 1829. 

My Dear Sir: 

Your letter of the 10 th ult? has remained longer 
unanswered than either my inclination or propriety 
would justify. But the drudgery of my business 
admits of but very little time to devote to anything 
else. Last Saturday, being a holiday, I set apart 
to a particular piece of business, which took me 
from 9 in the morning to yi past 10 at night, and 
last Monday I was in Court from 10 in the morning 
till after 12 at night. I mention these as samples of 
my occupation. You will ask, as many others do, 
why I thus apply myself. The only true answer 
which I can give is, that it is not usual for Lawyers 
to decline business when offered, nor is it honest in 
them either to neglect it, or turn it over to clerks, 
when they have undertaken it, and yet my health 
was never better. I presume I have not felt as 



Hettera of <©. W. strong 87 

strong and free from headache, indigestion, &c., 
for the last 10 years as I have thus far this season. 
This I attribute to a total change in my exercise. 
Instead of riding early in the morning on horseback 
as formerly, and which was often followed by 
excessive fatigue and lassitude during the rest of 
the day, I ride in a waggon from yi past 5 till yi 
past 7 in the afternoon, whenever I can find 
time. . . . 

I intend if possible to see you in the course of 
next month. But the difficulty of my leaving town 
is very much increased by our new Court, whose 
terms are from the first Monday to the last Satur- 
day in each month. This, you will perceive, is 
something all the time, and altho I am far from 
having a cause tried every day, yet it is necessary 
to keep a watchful eye from day to day. For busi- 
ness is hurried in that Court at a great rate indeed. 
It opens at 9 in the morning, continues till half 
past 2, when there is a recess of 2 hours, and then 
opens again, and often sits while after 12, the rule 
being that no new cause shall be commenced after 
9. In this hot season, this is enough to kill Judges, 
Lawyers, Jurors and parties. But such is the 
present order of things. The popular clamor lately 
was the delays of Justice, and surely there was 
ground for it. Now the cry is reversed, that justice 



88 betters of <©. ®BL strong 

is too summary. So true it is, that one extreme 
will follow another. 

But I fear I shall fatigue you with details in 
which you cannot be supposed to take a very deep 
interest, but which it is right you should know in 
order to remove any suspicion of neglect on my part. 

My best regards to your family, and believe me 

to remain, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of Oct. 2, 1829. 

The truth is that during the late vacation of our 
Courts, either M* Griffin or Eloise was absent from 
Town nearly the whole of the time, and I am very 
much perplexed with a certain suit in Chancery 
against the Fire Department in this City, which 
leads to the examination of most of the Firemen in 
the City. Their Depositions are all taken in writ- 
ing, and for at least the last month, and probably 
for more than a month to come, I have devoted and 
shall be obliged to devote at least 5 evenings in the 
week to the examination of witnesses. This makes 
a great inroad upon my other business, and calls 
for the diligent improvement of all my time. 



ILttttx* of <©♦ W. Strong 89 

Eloise, as you may perceive by her letter, was 
highly delighted with her late excursion. She has 
formed a good many acquaintances, and I think 
I perceive in her a very strong inclination for 
company. She is indulged in this respect full as 
much as I wish her to be. It is very natural that 
she should have such inclinations, and my only 
fear is that they may be carried too far. M r . s 
Strong visits but very little, and she appears dis- 
posed to let Eloise make up for her deficiencies. 
As for my own part, I have long since abandoned 
the idea of visiting at all. I go where my business 
calls me, and nowhere else. My brother Benja- 
min's daughters manifest a strong disposition to 
lead Eloise into company, and I sometimes fear 
she may become too fond of it. If, in your letters 
to her, you could make some allusions to this sub- 
ject, with the view to her adopting a proper 
medium, you may render her a valuable service. 



Letter of Jan. 22, 1830. 

By the way, I must be excused for bragging a 
little about George. At the close of the last year 
he took the first premium in his school, and the 
boy who took the second was 1 5 years old. George 
will be 10 next Monday. 



90 Hetter* of <§. W. strong 

Letter of June 7, 1830. 

I do not know how far your ''honorable" rela- 
tive, of Philadelphia, makes you a confidant. If 
not already apprised of it, you will in due time hear 
something about him that will agreeably surprise 
you. All that I happen to know is professional, 
and, of course, must be kept to myself, especially 
as I perceive from his letter to his friends here, 
that he desires it may be kept a secret for the pres- 
ent, and complains that it had already leaked out, 
and which he very unceremoniously attributes to 
his friend, Prime. As I know you to be very care- 
ful about alluding to what you hear, I am per- 
suaded you will make no improper use of what is 
above stated. In the letter above referred to, and 
which I do not believe he intended that I should 
see, he remarks that I am already under obligations 
to him without knowing it, for that it was at his 
instance that my name was inserted as one of the 
Associates in the Charter of the Life & Trust Com- 
pany, which entitled me to 1 00 shares of stock at par. 
The fact is that, although thus entitled, I declined 
taking any of the stock, as I have seen so much iniq- 
uity practised by stock operations in this city. I 
fear, therefore, if he ever knows the fact, that he will 
conclude that I very slightly esteem his favors. 



Letter* of <©♦ ML strong 91 

Letter of Sept. 3, 1830. 

I never saw your father's unexecuted will. All 
that I know or ever heard about it was from my 
father. I recollect that when I was a boy, and he 
belonged to the Senate, I heard him say that your 
mother had sent for him to inquire whether he 
thought he could procure the passage of a law 
through the Legislature to establish it, and that 
he told her it was utterly impossible. 



Letter of March ii, 1831. 

I do not apprehend any danger arising from the 
refusal of this State to appear to the suit of New 
Jersey in the Supreme Court. It was nothing 
more than a freak of M T . Attorney General Bron- 
son, assumed, I presume, in consequence of an 
intimation from the Secretary of State. But the 
Court having now formally decided that they have 
jurisdiction, I cannot believe that our State will 
stand out any longer. Should they, however, do 
so, it will be not much better than an act of open 
rebellion against the general Government. 

With regard to Eloise, you may make your mind 
perfectly easy. She will do whatever I advise for 



92 Letter* of <£. ®B. strong 

her own good. When Mary arrives at majority, 
should I then be living, I have no doubt this matter 
will be adjusted to the approbation of all parties. 



Letter of March 28, 1831. 

You and I agree exactly about Governor 
Throop's late communication to the Legislature. 
It looks the most like Nullification of any official 
document I have ever seen. For a man who, a few 
years ago, was scarcely a reputable Common Pleas 
lawyer, to be sitting in judgment upon the solemn 
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
delivered by C. J. Marshall, outrages all decency. 
It out-Herods Herod. It shows more subserviency 
to Van Buren than I ever thought Throop would 
be guilty of. I also agree with you that this same 
Van Buren is a more dangerous man than ever 
Aaron Burr was. 

I went to the Webster dinner. His speech was 
really worth going 50 miles to hear. It exceeded 
everything I had ever heard before. As read, it is 
nothing compared with it as delivered, though word 
for word the same. He is a prodigiously great man. 
His style of speaking is very much like that of the 
late Mr. Wells. A gentleman, who is a very com- 



ILttttv* of <©. WL. strong 93 

petent judge, and who, to use his own language, 
had often measured swords with both of them, not 
long since told me that Webster was far behind 
Wells as a lawyer, but far before him as a statesman. 
I send the leases for Gould to execute. He will 
then return them both to me, for Eloise to execute 
when she comes of age, which will be on the I3* h 
of May next. 

Note: The address by Mr. Webster was probably the 
" Speech delivered at a Public Dinner given by a large number of 
the citizens of New York (Chancellor Kent in the Chair) , in honor 
of Mr. Webster on the ioth of March, 1831." 



Letter of April 6, 1831. 

The scruples or misgivings of a dying man 
(whether reasonable or unreasonable), ought, in 
every instance, to be treated with the utmost 
kindness and delicacy, and I must beg it as a par- 
ticular favor that you will take an early opportu- 
nity to make John's mind perfectly easy on this 
subject. Say to him that I have not the least 
recollection that I ever blamed him in this matter, 
and that if I ever did, I did what I ought not to 
have done, and that I am extremely sorry that I 
should ever have been the cause of disturbing his 
last moments. I wish you to use your own dis- 
cretion in this affair, and go as far as you may 



94 ILtittx* of <©. ffli. Strong 

think discreet, in the present state of his mind, 
body and feelings. You might, with perfect truth 
say to him , if you think proper, that ever since he 
has been dangerously ill, I have felt a lively inter- 
est for him, more especially in regard to his future 
state, and that I have offered many earnest suppli- 
cations on his behalf. I like his tenderness of con- 
science, and would wish to encourage it, for I am 
fully persuaded that, let a man in full health de- 
vote his whole life to the thought of death, and to 
preparation for it, when he comes to die it will, in 
most cases, strike him with terrors which he never 
anticipated or felt before. Death is indeed the 
king of terrors, and there is great truth in what 
John Newton said, when speaking of some person 
of well established piety who died in great fear of 
death : "Tell me not how a man died, but tell me 
how he lived." I really feel most anxious that 
John's mind should be put perfectly at rest in 
regard to the affair referred to. 

Note: The invalid mentioned was Mr. Lloyd's relative, John 
Cogswell. 



Letter of July 15, 1831. 

I am persuaded she is greatly dissatisfied, and I 
fear she has had advisers in her brothers in Phila- 



Hettera of <&. UL Strong 95 

delphia. I understand she complains that she was 
not appointed an executrix, and withheld her con- 
sent to the proof of the will in Boston, or at least 
did what was tantamount to that. I am surprised 
at this, as I have always heard her spoken of in the 
highest terms, as possessing a most amiable dis- 
position, and as being withal a most estimable 
woman. But it is a most lamentable truth, even 
with regard to the best of us, that when our feelings 
get an improper bias, they make awful shipwreck 
of all that is amiable and desirable in human char- 
acter and conduct. You will, of course, understand 
that this is said in the strictest confidence. 



Letter of Aug. 12, 1831. 

I notice with interest what you say about the 
breaking up and dispersion of the survivors of the 
late family of your deceased uncle. Such instances 
are mournful evidences of the transitory nature of 
earthly things, and serve to admonish those whose 
house still stands firm, that it must soon go to 
decay and ruin. ... I perceive you are not an 
admirer of M* Lloyd's Will. But you ought to 
bear in mind a feeling which pervades most persons 
who have become very rich and very much at- 



96 Hetter* of 0. WL. strong 

tached to money, which is that they cannot endure 
the thought of separating it, or of placing it in a 
situation wherein it can be spent. I have often 
been struck with the strong marks of this disposi- 
tion when examining or drawing the Wills of 
very rich people. M T . Lloyd was undoubtedly 
very fond of money. It was his ruling passion, but 
it did not, in his opinion, constitute the summum 
bonum of life. He had an ardent thirst for liter- 
ary and political fame, neither of which could have 
had any connection with making money. Mrs. 
Lloyd has been here for some time. Shortly after 
her arrival she sent for me, and I had a long and 
free conversation with her. From what I had pre- 
viously heard, I expected a good deal of intemper- 
ance. I was agreeably disappointed. She did not 
conceal her dissatisfaction, but she did not forget 
what was due either to herself or to the memory of 
her deceased husband. 

Note : The reference is to the Hon. James Lloyd, Jr. , who died 
on April 5, 1831. The expression, " late family of your deceased 
uncle," may refer to the household of Henry Lloyd, who died 
unmarried. 



Letter of Sept. 9, 1831. 

I thank you for enclosing me the letter of your 
son John, (and which I now return to you). It is 



Hetter* of <&. WL. Strong 97 

better as to style, handwriting and ideas than I 
should have expected. He shows clearly that he 
has got the matter in him, and I think he will avail 
himself of it. He has advanced farther in Latin 
and Greek than I was aware of, and, I presume, 
in the course of about a year, you will think of 
entering him in Yale College. By that time I 
think he will be sufficiently prepared. Most par- 
ents do not think as they ought on the immense 
importance attached to the age at which John has 
arrived, when his habits, views and principles are 
all receiving a character which will not only last 
through life but probably govern through life. On 
this subject his letter speaks well, I should say 
very well indeed. I often look with intense anxiety 
upon George, and wonder what he is to be. One 
thing, however, I see very clearly, which is, that he 
wants to be constantly looked after. 

I am happy to learn you contemplate a visit to 
the Eastward. This is a delightful season, and I 
presume you will find the excursion a very pleasant 
one. You ought to take Commencement in your 
way, when you will not only see many old acquaint- 
ances, but will have an opportunity to hear 
Chancellor Kent deliver his oration. By the way, 
this is a very singular affair, and can be accounted 
for only on the score of his excessive vanity. That 



98 Hettera of <£♦ W. Strong 

it will read most elegantly and eloquently I have 
not the least doubt, but the delivery will be most 
shocking. Were I in New Haven, I doubt whether 
I should be present at its delivery. It will be pain- 
ful, especially to those who know and appreciate 
his merits as I do. But as a writer, Ch. Kent will 
advantageously compare with the best of the pres- 
ent age, whether in Europe or this Country, and 
I recommend you to procure a copy of his oration, 
which will certainly be published. You will find 
it one of the best pieces of composition that you ever 
read. The best writer that I know of among the 
living is Sir W™ Scott, (now Lord Stowell), and 
Ch. Kent is very little, if any, his inferior as a pure 
classical writer. 



New York, 8 Jan'y, 1832. 

My Dear Sir : 

Yours of the 28^ ult? was duly received. I 
regret sincerely to learn the indisposition of your 
children, John and Phoebe, and beg when you write 
me again you will inform me how they are. 

I have often reflected on your situation in life, 
and cannot be insensible of the awful havoc which 
death has made among your kindred, and with 
what rapid succession he still continues to aug- 



better* of <§. M. strong 99 

ment the number of his victims. I am also aware 
that towards a friend situated as you are, one is 
very apt to tender his advice, recommending this 
or that course agreeably to his own feelings or 
views. But my reflections have satisfied me that 
such advice is generally ill judged, and that the 
true course is to leave every person thus situated 
to judge and act for himself. 

M r . Mott was with me last evening to get me to 
prepare a deed from him to you. But unfortu- 
nately he had left at home the requisite papers, and 
nothing therefore can be done till he comes to 
town again. 

If you have entered into a valid contract with 
MT Mott, and if there be no valid objection to the 
title, the risk of the buildings, prior to the delivery 
of the deed, is yours, not his. This principle is as 
old as the Institutes of the Civil Law, (going back 
to something like the age of Cicero), which put 
this very case, and for your amusement as well as 
to try your Latin, I will here transcribe it from the 
original : ' ' Cum autem emptio et venditio contrac- 
ta sit, periculum rei venditae statim ad emptorem 
pertinet, tametsi adhuc ea res emptor i tradita non 
sit. Itaque si aut aedes totae, vel aliqua ex parte, 
incendio consumptae fuerint, emptor is damnum 
est, cui necesse est, licet rem non fuerit nactus, 



ioo Hetter* of <©. M, Strong 

pretium solvere." Such was the law at Rome. In 
the earlier stages of the English law, a directly 
opposite rule prevailed, and several cases are re- 
ported to that effect. But it is now well settled 
that the former rule no longer prevails there, and 
that the more rational principle of the Civil Law 
has taken its place. Lord Eldon, speaking of a 
case precisely like the one contemplated by you, 
says : ' ' As to the mere effect of the accident itself, no 
solid objection can be founded upon that simply ; 
for if the party by the contract has become the 
owner of the premises, they are his to all intents 
and purposes. They are vendible as his, chargeable 
as his, capable of being encumbered as his, they 
may be devised as his, they may be assets, and 
they would descend to his heir." To this you 
would probably say that you are not the owner till 
you get your deed. But in legal intendment, the 
moment the contract is made, (provided it be a 
valid contract, and the title turn out to be a good 
one), the land belongs to the purchaser and the 
price to the seller, and such is the common under- 
standing of mankind, a proof of which is to be 
found in your very letter before me, in which you 
say: il M. r . Mott accepted of my offer, and I am 
the owner of his farm here. ' ' 

Thus much for law, about which I have said a 



Hetter* of <©. W. Strong 101 

great deal more than is necessary. But it always 
affords me great pleasure, when I investigate a 
principle, to trace it to its source and follow it up 
in its different bearings. 
In haste, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 

JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: The case decided by Lord Eldon and referred to by 
Mr. Strong is Paine vs. Meller, 6 Vesey Jr., 349 (A. D. 1801). 
Compare Gerard on Titles to Real Estate, Ch. XIX, Title II, 
5th Ed., p. 500 (New York, 1909); Reeves on Real Property, 
§404 (Boston, 1909); Williams vs. Haddock, 145 N. Y., 144, 150; 
McKechnie vs. Sterling, 48 Barb., 330; Ins. Co. vs. Dunham, 
117 Penn. State Rep., 460, 475, 477. As to the rule upon the 
sale of goods and chattels, see the English statute, in which the 
existing law was reproduced there, the Sale of Goods Act, 1893, 
sections 7, 17, 18 and 20. This statute can be found as an Appen- 
dix to Benjamin on Sales, 7 t} ? Amer. Ed., 1899. 



Letter of May 18, 1832. 

Eloise has been for a day or two somewhat indis- 
posed, in consequence of a heavy cold. She is a 
little better today. I trust nothing serious will 
result from it. I believe she wrote you some few 
days ago. She ought to write you more frequently, 
and I have repeatedly spoken to her about it. 
However, she is so different from what she was, 



102 Hetter* of #♦ ML strong 

(at least so parental partiality induces me fully 
to believe), that I cannot but see in her much more 
to approve than to censure. She, however, does 
love young company dearly, while Mary errs about 
as much in the opposite extreme. 



Letter of June 22, 1832. 

I did attend the public dinner to Washington 
Irving. It went off very well, but the written or 
printed account of it is very different from the 
reality. In all my life I never saw a man make such 
a complete failure, or rather such a fool of himself, 
as did Chancellor Kent in his speech. He became 
so excessively embarrassed as to be unable to pro- 
ceed. He could neither connect his ideas nor pro- 
nounce his words. Indeed, he was compelled to 
stop. It was a perfect breaking down. He apolo- 
gized by saying, (foolishly enough), " The presence 
of the audience overawes me, but I shall be able to 
go on directly." He then searched his pockets for 
his MS., and, having at last found it, and laid it 
before him, he was too much embarrassed to read 
it, and again attempted to proceed without it, and 
was finally compelled to stop short and sit down, 
amidst the roaring applause of the company as a 
matter of course ! At Kent I felt disposed to laugh ; 



TLttttvti of <g. W. strong 103 

for Irving I felt really sorry, for when he rose to 
speak it was very manifest that he did not know 
whether he stood on his head or on his feet. He 
was excessively embarrassed, and appeared to 
have taken the contagion from the presiding officer 
on his left. He caught hold of the knife with which 
he had been eating, and threw it around and about 
to the great peril of those who were near him. 
However, this was quite excusable in him. But 
my wish is that Kent will never attempt to make 
another public speech. I could not but contrast 
. . . who succeeded Irving, with the two who had 
preceded him. He appeared as much their supe- 
rior in mental endowments as we all know them to 
be his superiors. He had every word committed 
perfectly to memory, had been taught precisely 
how and where to lay the emphasis, and most 
evidently felt perfectly satisfied with himself and 
every word he uttered. Duer's speech was admir- 
able and admirably delivered. I agree with you 
that it does not read as well as Kent's, and cer- 
tainly not as well as it appeared in the delivery. 



New York, 6t> July, 1832. 

My Dear Sir : 

Yours of the 30^ ult? is at hand. 

I never before saw this city in such a state of 



104 Hetters of <g. M. strong 

confusion and excitement as at present. I cannot 
convey to you any adequate conception of the 
existing state of things. You will see one man 
frightened almost out of his senses, and looking and 
talking in such a way that you cannot avoid 
laughing at him, and the next man will be railing 
against the excitement, first denying that there is 
anything like Asiatic Cholera in the city, affirming 
that the cases which have occurred are the ordinary 
cholera of the country, that they are not more 
frequent or malignant than what are usual at this 
season of the year, and then contending most 
resolutely that, even admitting the genuine Asiatic 
Cholera to be here, this is the place of the greatest 
safety. Indeed one would suppose from the re- 
marks which he may frequently hear, that if the 
real cholera raged ever so badly here, and the 
adjacent country were ever so healthy, this would 
be the only place where a man could calculate to 
be safe. I am disgusted with such contrariety of 
opinion and feelings, and am more and more 
convinced that it is my imperative duty to judge 
and act for myself. Day before yesterday, in the 
afternoon, I called upon D' Nielson, who is my 
family physician, and one of the Medical Council 
of the city, and asked his advice as to the most 
proper course to be pursued. He assured me that 



Hettera of #. W. strong 105 

at present there was no more cause for alarm than 
what is usual at this season of the year, that I ought 
by no means to leave the city, and added that he 
would not permit his family to go away. One of 
his daughters was in the country on a visit, and 
he has sent for her home in consequence of the 
existing excitement. I have reason however to 
know that other physicians have advised directly 
the opposite course. I have not been able from the 
beginning to divest my mind of the horrors of an 
attack on the road, or in the country, where no 
medical aid can be had immediately, at least none 
upon which any reliance can be had. In this state 
of utter uncertainty as to what I ought to do, I 
have recommended that everything about my 
house should be put in readiness for leaving it the 
moment it is deemed best, and this course of prep- 
aration has been going on since Monday last. 
I can have lodgings at Wilton, if I think best to go 
there. M r ? Strong, Eloise and Mary were at 
first prodigiously alarmed, but among the other 
unaccountable things attending the present state 
of things, they have cooled down a good way be- 
low my standard, and I can hardly excite them as 
much as I think they ought to be. Both of the 
MT Griffins have left with their families, so that I 
am quite alone in the office. The elder Mr Griffin 



106 Hetter* of <©♦ M. strong 

has been the greatest alarmist that I have seen. 
I think he ought to have gone, I advised him to 
go, and I am rejoiced that he has gone. He talked 
almost of nothing else, and collected and propa- 
gated all the idle and frightful stories that are 
afloat. He compelled his son to go. The father 
has gone with his family to Pennsylvania, and the 
son, with his, to Connecticut. I may go today, 
tomorrow or not at all. I shall be governed wholly 
by circumstances from day to day. I look for- 
ward with great anxiety to the report of today. I 
anticipate an immense increase from yesterday. 
Under 50 cases for today I shall consider not alarm- 
ing. Recollect, every bowel complaint is now set 
down to the cholera. But then the patient dies 
so soon, and almost with as much certainty as he 
is attacked ; there is the terror to my mind. Then 
again it is said they had been guilty of excesses, 
were abominably filthy, actually living in filth, so 
the cases are parried by the non-alarmists, and the 
facts of the case denied on the other side. All 
business is completely at a stand, and ceases to 
present the slightest inducement to remain here. 
Indeed I lay it wholly out of the question, and 
avoid it as much as possible. I consider the present 
moment as one of awful peril, involving nothing 
short of life and death, and my great and sole 



Hetten* of <©. 8H. strong 107 

object is to adopt and pursue the course of safety, 

and my great difficulty is to discover that course. 

Expense is no object. 

Should my life be spared, I will write you again 

shortly. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: See also Francis Griffin's letter of Sept. 5, 1832, to Mr. 
Strong. 



Wilton, (Conn.), 
1 6th July, 1832. 

My Dear Sir: 

Yours of the 10th instant I received at this place 
by mail a few days since. We left town on Monday 
last, in the steamboat Citizen, and reached Nor- 
walk after a very disagreeable passage of wind and 
rain about 12. I expected we should all catch our 
death colds from the wet, but fortunately we all 
escaped. We are very conveniently accommo- 
dated at Mr. Lambert's, where we have everything 
to render us comfortable. My brother-in-law, 
Mr. Johnson, and his family, and the two Miss 
Templetons, are with us. I have my carriage and 
horses. In all, we make 14, besides 4 other board- 
ers in the same family. We all enjoy excellent 



108 lUtters of #. W. Strong 

health. It was not without much hesitation that I 
concluded to leave the city, but having there noth- 
ing to do, and constantly hearing exaggerated 
stories, many leaving town, and those who advised 
to stay generally having business to keep them 
there, I determined, on the whole, that it was the 
safest to flee. 

Whether there be any real Asiatic cholera in 
town, I have not been able fully to determine. 
That there is a disease there of a very malignant 
character, producing death most suddenly, cannot 
be doubted, but it has not, as far as I can learn, 
put on the same type there which it has done in 
other places. 

Please write me often. I would say more but I 
fear the hour for closing the mail is just at hand. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 9th Oct. 1832. 

My Dear Sir: 

Your very acceptable letter of the 27* ult° I 
duly received. 

The cholera has ceased to produce any excite- 



Hettera of <©. M. Strong 109 

ment in this city, and is scarcely mentioned. I 
confess I still feel very great apprehension respect- 
ing it, not from any present danger, but that it will 
linger among us through the winter and break out 
afresh with the return of warm weather. However, 
it is a most inscrutable disease, and no certain cal- 
culation can be made respecting it . In the Western 
states, it is committing the most awful devasta- 
tions. A day or two since, I saw and conversed 
with a physician direct from Alabama, who gave 
a most frightful account of its ravages. Cincin- 
nati was nearly deserted, and the inhabitants flee- 
ing in every direction. It rages very much on 
board of the steamboats on the Western rivers. 
One boat, he stated, arrived with 40 cases on board, 
and ten deaths had occurred on the passage. He 
avoided the steamboats and came the whole dis- 
tance by land. He says the type of the disease is 
worse there than it was here, and that the work of 
death is generally accomplished in a few hours. 
I find our merchants here, in their sales to Southern 
customers, are influenced very much by the cholera 
in their calculations as to the safety of their 
debts. . . . 

While I was at Wilton, I became acquainted 
with Mr. Gallatin, who was detained a few days 
at Norwalk by sickness in his family on his way to 



no Hetter* of #. 8R. Strong 

Greenfield, where he remained during the cholera. 
Since our return, he has employed me in a pretty 
important concern, respecting the settlement of 
the estate of his wife's mother, who has recently 
deceased. This has necessarily led to frequent 
intercourse and an intimate acquaintance with 
him, and I must say he is the most wonderful man 
I ever saw. He is now 75 years old. His mind 
never was better, though his health is very delicate 
and his constitution apparently very much im- 
paired. His conversation is remarkably interesting. 
He has all of the animation and vivacity of youth. 
In his manners he is a perfect gentleman, and it is 
impossible to be in his company five minutes with- 
out being struck with the idea that he is altogether 
of a superior order of intellect. The only three 
great men that I have had an opportunity of closely 
observing were Doctor D wight, Mr. Wells and 
Mr. Emmet, but there is something in Mr. Galla- 
tin's conversation very different from, (and I 
should say superior to), that of either of them. He 
has such a quick and accurate perception; he 
passes over nothing without a thorough compre- 
hension of it. Take him on any subject, and he is 
perfectly at home on it. His stock of information 
is almost inexhaustible, and of the most valuable 
and interesting character. He has related to me 



Hettera of <£♦ M. strong in 

a great many anecdotes which have interested me 
very much. One or two I will repeat. When the 
Wellington administration went out of office, Mr. 
Gallatin was Minister at the Court of St. James. 
The Duke of Wellington, on that occasion, gave a 
grand dinner to all his late associates in his Minis- 
try, at which all the foreign Ministers were invited. 
Mr. Gallatin attended, and occupied a seat at 
table next but one to Lord Eldon, (late Chancellor). 
While the servants were removing the cloth from 
the table, and before the choice or rich wines were 
brought on, Lord Eldon remarked: "I really think 
they did right in turning me out of office. I cer- 
tainly begin to fail, for I have drank only a bottle 
and a half of port, while my usual quantity at 
dinner is two bottles." Mr. Gallatin says it is a 
fact that Lord Eldon, then 85 years old, had then 
already drank a bottle and a half of wine, and was 
in the constant habit of drinking two bottles at 
dinner, and usually, in the course of an evening, eat 
two meat suppers. He represents his Lordship, at 
that age, as one of the strongest and best built men 
he ever saw. He has been Lord Chancellor of 
England more than twice as long as any of his 
predecessors, and, I presume, decided four times 
as many cases, and yet drank his two bottles of 
wine at the least a day, and eat two hearty suppers 



ii2 Hetter* of <©. ffll. Strong 

an evening, down to the age of 85, and still enjoy- 
ing most excellent health. Mr. Gallatin says that 
when he was in England, taking the 16 incumbents 
of the highest judicial offices in that country, that 
is, the twelve judges, the judge of the High Court 
of Admiralty, the Lord Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, 
and Master of the Rolls, their average age was 72, 
which he thinks is rather a bad commentary upon 
our constitution, which superannuates a judge at 
60. He says that during the four years that he 
was secretary of the Treasury, under Mr. Jefferson, 
he drafted every act passed by Congress, with the 
exception of those only which related to the Judi- 
ciary. With such and similar anecdotes, he has 
contributed very much to my amusement and 
instruction, and I confess has made an impression 
on my mind which will not be very soon or easily 
effaced. 

Since I began this letter, in looking over some 
old papers for another purpose, I stumbled upon 
the enclosed which belongs to you, and about 
which you wrote me some time since, and which I 
could not then find. I now return it to you with 
pleasure. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Hettera of <©. M. Strong 113 

New York, 3d Jan., 1833. 

My Dear Sir : 

... I have no inclination and not much space 
left to say anything on public affairs. The proc- 
lamation is indeed a most splendid and magnifi- 
cent production. It is, as I understand, from the 
pen of Governor Cass, the Secretary at War. He 
is a man of most consummate talents, and "his 
private character and life are most beautiful," to 
use a quotation from the inscription on Mr. 
Emmet's monument. Still, I very much fear this 
proclamation will not answer the purpose. It 
sounds too much of old-fashioned and exploded 
Federalism to set well. John Randolph is out 
against it, under his own signature, and the poli- 
ticians of Virginia generally disapprove of it. I 
think we must have a civil war and a dismember- 
ment of the Union. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: This letter refers to the "Nullification" controversy 
with South Carolina. 



Letter of May io, 1833. 

It is very true, as you justly remark, that it is 
harrowing to dwell on instances of such helpless 



ii4 Hettera of <§♦ ML Strong 

misery. But still they will occur, and the infer- 
ence to which they lead appears to be obvious. I 
have very often thought that there were two grand 
and fundamental errors in the prevalent charities 
of the present day, the one is publicity, and the 
other is the neglect of the poor. Whoever will read 
the Scriptures must, I think, come to the conclu- 
sion that the poor are the first objects of charity, and 
that it is to be done in secret. But the fashion of 
the present day is to give to some public charitable 
association, and have the amount of the donation 
trumpeted abroad in some newspaper, or other 
publication, and then he that gives the most is the 
best fellow. Now if in this there be aught of the 
spirit of charity, I confess I am yet to learn its 
first principles. 

Note: This paragraph begins with a quotation from Mr. 
Lloyd's letter of April 20, 1833. 



Letter of Sept. 6, 1833. 

You think it is a very easy matter to regulate 
temperance in drinking, while it is far otherwise in 
eating. In my opinion, temperance in everything, 
eating, drinking, labor, desire, &c., &c, is equally 
a duty, and equally feasible, not however by one 
general rule equally applicable to every individual, 



TLttttx* of <§. M. strong 115 

for what is cordial to one is often poison to another, 
and hence arises one of my objections to the sweep- 
ing injunction of entire abstinence upon all. But 
every man must judge for himself, and he who will 
not govern himself by his own judgement and ex- 
perience, will hardly be restrained by a voluntary 
vow. 



Letter of Dec. 5, 1833. 

I have determined on sending my son to Colum- 
bia College. He has attended for the last fifteen 
months the Grammar School attached to the Col- 
lege, and I have every reason to be satisfied with 
his improvement and standing. Over this school 
Prof. Anthon presides, having some dozen satraps 
under him. The school consists of upwards of 200 
boys. George is in the first class, which alone 
recites to Anthon. He stands in the utmost dread 
of his teachers, and knows very well that if he 
neglects a single lesson he will get a good whipping 
for it. He studies as hard as I want him to do. 
He is now a much better Latin and Greek scholar 
than I was the day I graduated. I expect he will 
enter College next July. I spend every evening 
with him at his studies from 6 to 10, and this is the 
first winter, since I have been in business, that I 



n6 Hetter* of <©. M. strong 

have omitted coming to the office in the evening. 
My labor on the whole is essentially increased by 
this course, but I consider George's education of so 
much importance, and the present such an interest- 
ing period of his life, that I deem it my duty to 
rriake the sacrifice. He is very fond of his studies, 
particularly of the languages, as a proof of which I 
might mention that for his amusement he spends 
his leisure hours in reading Sophocles' Tragedies 
and Lucian's Dialogues in the original Greek. 



Letter of Feb. 7, 1834. 

Your information respecting ... is very direct, 
but still I cannot believe it without further con- 
firmation. In the Summer season I am frequently 
at Flatbush, where I often see him, and I never 
heard or had a suspicion that he drank. On the 
contrary, I should have fixed upon him as a very 
active member of the Temperance society, and 
ready to condemn everyone as a drunkard who 
refused to join. By the way, your hair would stand 
on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine, if 
you were to hear Ch. Kent talk on the subject of 
Temperance societies. Altho a very temperate 
man himself, yet I think he carries his opposition 



Hettera of <§♦ M. Strong 117 

much too far, nor can I agree with him in this 
respect, while on most subjects I am very apt to 
listen to him as possessing oracular wisdom. You 
would have thought him the most singular of all 
human beings, had you been present and listened 
to a conversation which I witnessed last Summer, 
on board of a steam boat, between him and Josiah 
Quincy, Esq., of Boston. 

I saw General Jackson when here ' ' on the grand 
tour" last Summer. He was in the street mounted 
on horseback with his hat off, bowing first on one 
side and then on the other to the innumerable mul- 
titude, who were shouting hosannahs to him, 
which he received very graciously. I went to pay 
my respects to him in form, while he received com- 
pany at the City Hall, but it happened to be the 
ladies' day, and I could therefore gain no admit- 
tance. Clay I never saw. . . . Confidence in 
the commercial community seems to be at an end, 
and the consequence is an almost universal pros- 
tration of business. It would seem that this coun- 
try had become too prosperous, and money too 
plenty, and that those who were too desirous to 
become rich, taking advantage of the facility of 
credit, had extended themselves much too far, 
till creditors became alarmed and called for their 
money, when it could not be raised, and thus con- 



u8 Het era of <©. M. Strong 

fidence has been destroyed. But this country is 
remarkable for its vicissitudes. I well recollect 
that about a year ago I thought that civil war was 
inevitable. That cloud, however, most suddenly 
and unexpectedly dispersed, and was succeeded 
by a serene atmosphere. It may be so with the 
present state of things, but I confess I can see no 
prospect of it at present. 



New York, March 7, 1834. 

My Dear Sir : 

. . . There is no man in this community who 
does more toward discountenancing intemperance, 
both by precept and example, than Chancellor 
Kent, (who happens now to be in my office exam- 
ining law books). But he, together with a great 
many other great and good men, thinks that there 
are divers projects now on foot and highly popular 
for the melioration of mankind, which bid fair in 
process of time to do more hurt than good. . . . 
I have read with much interest and attention the 
piece which you were so good as to send me "on 
mental precocity." I approve entirely of the 
views there expressed, and a child like those there 
described is far from being desirable. George has 



TLttttT* of <©. 8H. strong 119 

no resemblance to such a child. The most that 
can be said of him is that he has always evinced an 
extraordinary attachment to books, and an unusual 
degree of perseverance and labor in the study of 
them. In this respect I find it necessary to check 
him, and at the same time to censure his neglect 
of his lessons. I want him to study on the whole 
less, but his lessons more. In a class of 19 his 
weekly reports range from No. 1 to No. 4. But if 
all his studies were devoted to his lessons alone, he 
would uniformly be No. 1. Within the last four 
months, he has written out entire translations of 
two of Sophocles' Tragedies, three of ^Eschylus, 
and one of the Comedies of Aristophanes, occupy- 
ing more than one hundred pages of closely-written 
foolscap. All this is independent of his lessons and 
done out of school. The translation would not 
appear badly in print, nor do discredit to a mature 
scholar. I think it is more than his nature can bear 
up under, and I have set my face against his con- 
tinuing it. I consider the education of children 
as of inconceivable importance, and I have en- 
deavored to spare no labor or expense in reference 
to the education of my own. I expect to start 
with Eloise this afternoon on rather a singular 
expedition to Newburgh, to examine a little cot- 
tage near there which is to be sold next week, and 



120 Eetter* of <£, M. Strong 

which was formerly General Washington's head- 
quarters. I have no expectation that I shall buy 
it, and the probability is so very remote that I beg 
you will not mention it. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of April 4, 1834. 

If half be true of what General Jackson and his 
violent partisans say about the United States 
Bank, I should be on his side, but this is denied, 
nor have I the means of arriving at the truth. 
However, I have always thought him a violent, 
passionate, headstrong man, and it appears to me 
that in many things he has descended from the 
dignity of his station, and at the approaching 
election I propose to do, (what I have not done for 
the last 20 years, that is), vote upon purely party 
grounds. This election will be the most important 
in its consequences, and will be much more vio- 
lently contested, than any that has ever before 
taken place in this city. It is put wholly on the 
Bank and Deposit questions. I find not an in- 



llettera of <©♦ W. Strong 121 

dividual who is neuter "on the subject, nor do I 
believe that the election will terminate without 
bloodshed. Which party will prevail it is difficult 
to say. Both profess the utmost confidence of 
success. But when they come to the scratch at the 
polls, I shall not be surprised if a "whorrah for 
Jackson" carries all before it. There is one dis- 
tinction recently introduced into political discus- 
sions which I fear will have a most fatal tendency, 
and that is, an attempt to excite the poor against 
the rich. This may easily prove fatal to our 
government. You must not be surprised if the 
next intelligence you have is that ... is elected 
Mayor. Should this unfortunately be the result, 
Jackson and his party will assume much stronger 
ground, and it is impossible to say where the con- 
sequences must end. Should Van Buren succeed 
Jackson, he will pursue the same line of policy with 
probably more cunning and dexterity, and by the 
time his eight years have expired, we may probably 
bid farewell to the Republic. Clay, I think, stands 
no chance. He has been distanced so often that I 
think none of the political Jackies will be on his 
side any longer. If Cass stood any chance for suc- 
cess, I should prefer him to any other man. I 
think he is honest, and might be safely trusted. 
Webster must go down, and Binney is known only 



122 Hetters of <S. IB- strong 

as a great lawyer and jurist, but not as a politician 
or public man. 

Note: This refers to elections held during General Jackson's 
period. It is said of it: "The tone of political discussion was un- 
exampled for its violence and rancor." Stan wood. 



Letter of June 13, 1834. 

I have lately read with great interest and atten- 
tion Mr. Webster's speech on the Protest. It 
strikes me as one of the ablest, most logical and 
eloquent productions I ever read in my life, prob- 
ably the most so. I should think that it would not 
suffer at all by a comparison with the best speeches 
of Burke, Chatham, Canning, Cicero or Demos- 
thenes. I yesterday conversed with a gentleman, 
a very competent judge, (the Rev'd. Mr. Creigh- 
ton), who has just returned from Washington, who 
informs me that Webster is decidedly the greatest 
man in Congress. 

Note: President Jackson sent to the Senate, on April 15, 
1834, a Protest against a Resolution of the Senate, the Resolution 
declaring that in ordering the removal of the deposits of the 
public money from the United States Bank, the President had 
acted in derogation of the Constitution and laws, and Senator 
Webster addressed the Senate in opposition to the Protest. 
Chancellor Kent said of this speech: "You never equalled this 
effort," and, "It is worth millions to our liberties." 



Hettera of <©. W. strong 123 

Letter of July 30, 1834. 

Mr. . . . called on me yesterday, and after a 
good deal of difficulty and discussion with him I 
made the following arrangement: . . . The 
bone of contention between Mr. . . . and my- 
self arose from his insisting on my paying for the 
excess now, and before the survey is made. The 
deeds purport to convey 51 1-8 5/100 acres, and 
according to the literal reading of the contract, the 
deeds and not the survey are made the criterion by 
which the excess is to be estimated, the language 
being that, "if by the said deed the said land shall 
exceed 500 acres," and so forth. I told him that 
the word deed was a mistake and that it should 
have been survey; that Mr. Gould never intended 
to pay $13 for an acre, which he did not receive. 
That his, (Mr. . . .), construction of the con- 
tract involved a manifest absurdity, for by the 
terms of the contract he was not to refund any- 
thing unless the quantity fell short of 500 acres, 
and suppose I were now to pay him for 11-85/100 
acres surplus, and suppose by the survey it should 
turn out that there were precisely 500 acres, then 
there would be no refunding, and Mr. Gould would 
have paid about $156 beyond the contract price of 
$13 per acre, and for which he would have no re- 



124 Hettera of <©. 99. Strong 

dress. But notwithstanding all I could say to him, 
he persisted that the contract was correctly drawn, 
and that Mr. Gould understood it precisely as he 
did. He evidently evinced more of Yankee cun- 
ning than sound sense or common honesty, and I 
finally told him that I was immovable on this point, 
and if he calculated to gain it, he must first go and 
see Mr. Gould, and get his written consent to that 
effect. This, however, he declined doing, and said 
he would wait for the surplus till after the survey 
was made. 



New York, nth Aug., 1834, 

My Dear Sir: 

. . . You doubtless have heard various ru- 
mours about the existence of Cholera among us. 
The disease is certainly among us, but the cases 
hitherto, I believe, are few, of a sporadic character 
and mitigated type. No alarm exists ; no removals 
have taken place. My arrangements are already 
made to quit the moment that course becomes 
prudent. Mrs. Strong, Mary and George are at 
present at present at Whitestone. Eloise is with 

me. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Hetter* of <©. W. Strong 125 



New York, nth August, 1834. 
(Confidential) 



My Dear Sir : 



I take pleasure in communicating to you, con- 
fidentially, an event that is likely to happen of 
deep interest to myself, and about which I presume 
you will not feel indifferent. It is probable that 
your niece, (Eloise), will ere long change her name 
and residence. The gentleman is Elias Hasket 
Derby, Esq., a lawyer in Boston. I have known 
this gentleman for several years by correspondence 
on business, and the opinion which I have thus 
formed of him has been of the most favorable kind, 
and I feel myself bound to say that these impres- 
sions are vastly strengthened by a more intimate 
personal acquaintance with him, and by informa- 
tion derived from others. He has been at the Bar 
about six years, and has acquired a very handsome 
share of business, and accumulated considerable 
property. He sustains a very fair character for 
integrity and morality, and I am much deceived 
if he has not a very amiable disposition. His in- 
come is about $4,000 a year. His appearance is 
not prepossessing, but he is a gentleman in his 
principles and manners. I must say I am pleased 
with him, and give my consent without the least 
reluctance or misgivings. I regret the residence 



126 TLttttv* of <g. WL. strong 

in Boston, but that is a trifling objection if there 
be no other. 

Considering the perils through which Eloise has 
passed, I cannot but felicitate myself on the present 
prospect. She has been beset by those whom I 
thought to be undeserving of her, two of whom I 
believe I have mentioned to you, but there are 
many more whom I have not, some of whom she 
declined herself, but in regard to the rest, that most 
unpleasant and trying duty was devolved on me. 
I have discharged it with a studious regard to her 
own welfare, but I confess, at the same time, with 
fear and trembling as to the consequences. Thus 
far I have no cause to regret the course I have 
pursued, but great reason to approve of it. It 
may be that I am now erring, but, if so, I err with 
the utmost good faith. She has acted on this 
occasion with great discretion and propriety. The 
reference on both sides was immediately to me, 
and everything has been conducted according to 
my ideas of propriety on such occasions. 

I shall take an early opportunity to speak to Mr. 
Derby, who is now here, respecting you and your 
family, in such terms of commendation as, I doubt 
not, will command his entire confidence and 
esteem. 

You will please to consider this communication, 



ilettera of #. M. strong 127 

for the present, as entirely and strictly confidential, 
and believe me to remain, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 8^ September, 1834. 

My Dear Sir : 

I duly received yours of the 18^ of last month, 
and which would have been answered sooner in 
the ordinary course of things. But my mind and 
business have lately been somewhat out of their 
usual current. 

Eloise was married on Thursday last, at half 
past three p.m., and left immediately after for West 
Point, where they were to remain till this morning, 
and then proceed to Lebanon. I have heard from 
her twice at West Point. She certainly appears 
to be in high spirits, and thus far delighted with 
her new situation. On the day of her marriage, I 
received a letter and bundle from you for her, 
which I gave to her, but the contents of your letter 
she did not mention to me. The truth is, such 
another scene of hurry and confusion I never 
witnessed before. I take it for granted that your 
letter assigned as a reason for your not coming, 



128 ICetter* of #. SB. Strong 

the prevalence of the cholera. Although I should 
have been very happy to have had you and your 
children present, yet, if you had asked me before- 
hand, I should very frankly have advised you, on 
account of the sickness, to keep away from the 
City for the present. The sickness came on just 
about the time when it was necessary for Eloise to 
begin her preparations. I thought it imprudent 
for my family to remain here any longer, and par- 
ticularly to sleep here at night. We accordingly 
went to White Stone, where my family still are. 
But Eloise found it indispensable to be a good deal 
in town, and it became necessary for me to accom- 
pany her. I had not the least conception that the 
preparation for a private marriage would create 
so much trouble, and require so much time. The 
marriage itself went off extremely well. There 
were present, besides Mrs. Strong, Mary and 
George, brother Benjamin and his wife, brother 
Joseph, his wife and three daughters, Mr. and 
Mrs. Catlin, her sister and his two brothers, Miss 
Lane of Newport, and Mr. Nesmith, who is a 
friend of Mr. Derby and first introduced him to 
Eloise. I am extremely well pleased with Mr. 
Derby's connections as far as I have seen them. 
The moment the ceremony was over, Mrs. Catlin 
remarked to Mrs. Strong: "Eloise will never 



ICettera of <&. ML Strong 129 

repent of that ; he is my twin brother ; I know him 
well." Indeed, I must say that the more I see 
and hear of Mr. Derby, the better I like him. I 
think there can be no mistake in regard to him, 
and that Eloise has done extremely well for herself. 

In consequence of what you said in your last 
letter, I concluded to have a settlement of the real 
estate made on Eloise. It was accordingly pre- 
pared and executed. I have had a great many 
opportunities to judge of the effects of marriage 
settlements upon the immediate parties con- 
cerned. In one instance out of ten, perhaps, they 
are beneficial, but in the remaining nine positively 
injurious. Every man wants the possession and 
control of his own property, and thinks he can 
take better care of it than others can for him. 
They also tend to destroy that oneness which ought 
always to exist between man and wife, and to 
render her independent of him. However, Mr. 
Derby wished it, and I finally consented to 
become the sole trustee. 

I know not how long my family will remain in 
the country. I do not think it prudent to bring 
them home at present. I shall henceforth prob- 
ably come to town every day, but sleep in the coun- 
try. Mary yesterday desired me to thank you 
for your kind invitation to spend the next month 



130 iUtter* of <£♦ ML Strong 

with your daughters, and to say to you that she 
should prefer postponing her visit till next Spring. 
With regard to myself, I intended to have been at 
the Neck before this, but late occurrences have 
rendered it impracticable. Next week I have to 
go to Hartford to attend a trial. I intend to come 
and see you in the course of the Fall. Perhaps I 
may think it best to defer it till December, when 
Eloise is to be here, and I shall then recommend 
her going with her husband to pay you a visit, and 
it will give me great pleasure to accompany them. 
I want to send you and your children some of the 
wedding Cake, and shall probably accompany 
this letter with it, but I fear it will be jammed and 
ruined on the way. Give my love to all. I am 
in such haste, and have so much to say, that I fear 
I have scarcely been intelligible, and that you 
will be unable to read what I have said. 

Yours &c. 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 15th Dec*, 1834. 

My Dear Sir: 

I have just received the enclosed from MT 
Lambert. As I felt anxious to learn how your 
son was, I wrote him on that subject. 



Hetter* of <£♦ ML Strong 131 

It is now most prodigiously cold, and how M rs 
Strong, Mary and George can endure the fatigue 
of such weather on a journey to Boston, I am at a 
loss to conceive. Should it continue, I shall 
recommend to them to stay at home, and go 
without them. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Boston, 27^ Dec 1 ", 1834. 

My Dear Sir: 

In your last letter you expressed a wish that I 
would write you on my arrival here. On Wednes- 
day the weather was so threatening that the 
steamboat did not leave New York till the day 
following, (Christmas), at 12 Noon. Mrs. Strong, 
Mary and George, accompanied me, and although 
I thought it was a pretty bold undertaking for 
them, yet they were all so eager to come that I 
could not discourage them. The weather was 
extremely cold and the wind heavy from the N.E. 
Yet on board of the boat, (the President, per- 
haps the finest steamboat that was ever built), we 
found it as comfortable and as pleasant as at home 
by our own fireside. We reached Providence 



132 Hetter* of <£♦ JH. Strong 

yesterday morning about half past seven. We 
then took stage for 26 miles to the railroad, and 
found it very cold and unpleasant. On the rail- 
road an accident happened to one of the horses, 
which prevented our reaching Boston till about 2. 
We found Eloise very well. Indeed she is as well, 
as comfortable and as happy as I could wish to 
see her. She was of course very glad to see us, 
and we to see her. This morning we have been to 
look at a house which Mr. Derby is about taking. 
[No. 56 Boylston Street.] We like it very much. 
It is situate on the Common in a very pleasant 
part of the city. The rent is $550. a year. I am 
very much pleased to find everything so comfort- 
able about Eloise. She appears to have every- 
thing that can be desired, and to be very happy. 
You know we are very apt to think too partially 
of our own children, but I fancy that I can per- 
ceive a great improvement in her for the better 
during the short time she has been here. 

I calculate to leave here by Tuesday or Wednes- 
day of next week. Mary will return with us ; she 
is to come on in May next to make a visit. 

I like Boston very much. This morning I have 
been all over the city to get a general view of it. 
On my return to Tremont House I find a number 
of cards. I have seen Mrs. Hubbard. On Mon- 



Hettera of <6. W, Strong 133 

day I calculate to make a number of calls. It is 
excessively cold here, and the sleighing is very 
fine. 

With kind regards to yourself and children, I 
remain 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 5^ Jan'y, 1835. 

My Dear Sir: 

I am happy to say we are all safe back again. 

In consequence of the snowstorm, the boat in 
which we were to return withdrew for the season, 
and we were therefore compelled to come by land 
as far as New Haven. We left Boston on Wednes- 
day at 1 p.m., and came to Worcester that night. 
The next morning we started at half past three, 
rode 18 miles without stopping before day-light, 
and reached New Haven at 8 in the evening, hav- 
ing rode 96 miles that day. We came the whole 
distance on runners, and experienced no incon- 
venience whatever from the cold. ... On 
Monday I went to Salem to visit an uncle of Mr. 
Derby, by the name of Benjamin Picknam. I 



134 Hetter* of <©, W. Strong 

found him a complete gentleman of the old school, 
living in elegant simplicity. He has formerly- 
been in public life, intimately acquainted with 
Governor Jay, General Hamilton, Governor 
Strong, Fisher Ames, Judge Benson and the great 
men of their day. I must be allowed to say that I 
think he is the most agreeable and interesting old 
gentleman I ever saw, and whenever you visit 
Boston I recommend to you to ask Mr. Derby to 
take you to his house. The reason of my going 
was that some time ago he sent me a very polite 
and pressing invitation, that whenever I visited 
Boston I must make his house my home. 

On Tuesday, I intended to return the various 
calls, but the storm prevented, and agreeable to 
the etiquette of the place, we sent round our cards. 
There were however a few that I was very desirous 
to call on, and I did so in the snow-storm, among 
whom were M r f Lloyd and M' and M r ! Bor- 
land. Very affectionate enquiries were made after 
you and your family. The elder M r ? Borland 
has failed very much ; I should not have known her. 
Her memory is impaired and her mind somewhat 
so. The younger M r . s Borland is very plain, but 
remarkably clever and kind-hearted. Her daugh- 
ter, (about 1 8), is very interesting. Tuesday 
evening we took tea with M r . Hubbard, and saw 



ILtttzv* of <g. M. strong 135 

several of our friends there. He is decidedly the 
first lawyer in Boston, next to M r . Webster. 

I like Boston much, perhaps rather too hospi- 
table for my fancy, but the people are free from 
ostentation and display. The Tremont House is 
a great establishment, furnishing everything that 
can be desired, but the charges are most extrava- 
gant. M r . and M r . s Derby pay each $20. a week, 
besides numerous &c's. Eloise is very much dis- 
satisfied with the charges, and determined to sub- 
mit to them no longer. Her house is to be 
furnished, and she to move in, as speedily as pos- 
sible. She has very much altered since she left 
here. Among other things, she has become a 
rigid economist, which I think very commendable. 

I hope you will visit Boston with your family 
next Summer. You will be very much gratified 
with it. 

I did not receive your letter of the 23 r . d ult?, 
with the book and pamphlet, till my return. You 
will please accept my thanks for the loan of them, 
and when I have read them I will return them to 
you. 

On the whole, my visit has been a very gratify- 
ing one, and, with the exception of George's sick- 
ness, my fellow travellers bore the journey 
extremely well. 



136 Hetter* of <©. M. Strong 

My love to your family, and believe me to 

remain, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of Jan. 29, 1835. 

Never was any poor wretch more absorbed in 
business than I have been for some time past. I 
sometimes feel as if I should sink under it. It is 
really a relief from toil to sit down with George 
to his lessons, and go over them with him during 
the evening. . . . 

P. S. I wish you would say to Henry that I 
sincerely hope and confidently trust he means 
to be a man, and sustain the name and character 
of his Family. But that this can not be ac- 
complished without hard study and persevering 
application. 



Letter of March 25, 1835. 

In this way the boys were examined from 9 to 
half past 1, when, on casting up the accounts, 
George was found to have 158 to his credit and 
the next highest was 44. After the class was dis- 



Hetter* of 41. W. Strong 137 

missed, the boys went out into the College Green 
and gave three cheers, and Master George came 
home feeling very much like the cock of the walk. 
But it was not fair. It depended too much on 
good luck, self-possession and a quick apprehension. 
George also had a decided advantage in having 
read so many of his old books, which are not studied 
in College. The first book selected was one that 
he had not only read before, but which he had 
written out the entire translation of. He had the 
candor to mention this, and it was laid aside, and 
for this I give him more credit than anything else. 
But if success and praise are generally highly 
injurious to adults, they cannot be otherwise than 
most injurious to a boy of 15. I accordingly say 
but little to him on the subject, except that I am 
pleased with the result, and cautiously avoid 
mentioning it to others. His health is now re- 
markably good. He spends an hour and a half 
every day at a gymnasium, and he has every 
appearance of a robust and hale boy. 



Letter of Apr. 2, 1835. 

The account which I gave you in my last about 
the result of George's examination was essentially 



138 better* of <£. 8H. Strong 

incorrect. It is true that he succeeded in the 
classics as represented, but at the close of the 
public examinations, (which was after I last 
wrote you), the certificates were announced, 
and George failed in obtaining the General 
Testimonial, which, as I understand, means 
the first scholar, and got only the certificate 
as to the classics. He is, I have no doubt, 
very much mortified at this result, and I am 
somewhat disappointed. He, however, contends 
that he would prefer the one he has got to all 
the rest. In this I differ from him, and aim 
at impressing on his mind two important and 
salutary lessons as the result, the one is of 
humility, and the other is that he is to study 
his lessons more and other books less. He 
studies as hard as I desire, but heretofore it 
has been almost anything and everything except 
his lessons. However, I ought to say for him 
that out of a class of 34, which is allowed to 
contain some very smart boys, and several of 
whom are over 18, I think he has acquitted 
himself creditably, and that I ought to be 
pleased with it. Still, he ought to know and 
feel that if he is to be a first rate scholar, he 
must not only study hard but confine himself 
to his lessons. 



Hetter* of <©. M. Strong 139 

Letter of May 15, 1835. 

I heard from Boston a few days ago and expect 
to hear again tomorrow. Mary went there with 
great reluctance, and nothing short of a strong 
sense of duty induced her to consent. I suspect 
her great objection was that she would be obliged 
to go more or less into society. She writes that 
she does not find going into society half as un- 
pleasant as she anticipated, for the people there 
appear so kind, agreeable and unaffected, and when 
Eloise last wrote, Mary had then actually gone to 
a party at M r f John Welles'. Eloise seemed to 
consider this as a very great affair and made it the 
principal subject of her letter. As for my own 
part, I am free to say that I commend Mary for 
her reluctance at going into company, and believe 
that in the end it will result to her own good. 
However, if she can be prevailed upon to go occa- 
sionally, I have no particular objection to it. She 
is missed very much at home, and M rs Strong 
very often mentions her desire for the time when 
she will return. 



New York, 13 Aug., 1835. 

My Dear Sir: 

. . . Were I to attempt to give you any idea 
of the babe, I should make an utter failure of it 



140 Hetter* of <©. ML Strong 

for the very obvious reason that, to my unpractised 
eye, all very young infants look just alike. I am 
told, however, that it is a promising child, and rath- 
er large and inclined to be cross, but very healthy. 
The Doctor said it was born at least one fortnight 
after the proper and usual time. A difficulty 
occurs with regard to his name. Mr. Derby's 
mother insists it shall be called Elias Hasket after 
its father, and paternal grand and great-grand- 
fathers; on the other hand, Mr. Derby and Eloise 
both object to the Elias part of it. How the mat- 
ter has been settled, or whether settled at all, I do 
not know. I told them that I thought they ought 
to gratify Mrs. Derby. A name is but a name, 
and therefore of no great consequence, at least not 
in opposition to the decided wishes of a grand- 
mother. 

Mary has not yet returned, tho daily expected. 
She is waiting for a convenient opportunity to 
come with some female acquaintance. I have 
repeatedly offered to go after her. In answer to 
which she says all her things are packed up to 
come by the first opportunity. Eloise is very un- 
willing to have her come away, and has proposed 
that she should stay with her permanently. To 
this proposition I can hardly assent. . . . 

The travel by railroad is the most pleasant of 



Hetter* of <©. M. Strong 141 

any that I ever experienced. To go from Provi- 
dence to Boston in one and three quarter hours, 
when the stages accomplished it with great diffi- 
culty in seven hours, is a great object gained. The 
faster you go the more pleasant it is. When I 
went through, there were about 250 passengers, 
and one little engine took that number, and about 
four large wagon-loads of baggage, with all the 
ease imaginable. The motion is so rapid that it 
is with difficulty you can count the posts in the 
fences by the road. Remember me kindly to all, 
and believe me to remain, 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of Oct. 23, 1835. 

I went to Albany on Wednesday on business 
for the Bank of America arising out of the defalca- 
tions and absconding of ... , the cashier. I 
made the quickest passage ever made between 
New York and Albany. It was a race the whole 
distance between two rival boats, (Champlain and 
Bunker Hill). I was in the former which beat by 
36 minutes. She claimed to have performed the 
passage in 9 hours and 13 minutes, but by my 



142 Hettera of 4£. 9B. strong 

watch it was 9.28, which I believe to be correct. 
We left New York at 7, and I was in Albany before 
half past four. 



New York, 23d Deer., 1835. 

My Dear Sir: 

For the particulars of the fire, I must refer ycu 
to the newspapers. I was early at my office. We 
immediately removed everything valuable, and 
then suspended operations for two or three hours, 
supposing our office would not be burnt. But 
when the Exchange caught, the fire ran through it 
with nearly the same rapidity as if it had been a 
great mass of shavings, and then the fate of our 
office became inevitable, but then it was too late 
to remove what was left, consisting of empty paper 
cases, tables, chairs, boxes, some old papers of not 
great value, &c. We ought to consider ourselves 
peculiarly fortunate. Our loss does not exceed, 
perhaps, $100. But the loss hereafter to be sus- 
tained cannot be foreseen or estimated. The 
derangement of business, and the new channels 
which it may take, admit of no certain calculation. 

This City never saw such a calamity before. 
All the other misfortunes which have befallen it 
are nothing compared with this. The loss falls 



Hetterg of 4£. M. strong 143 

with peculiar severity upon widows, infants and 
persons retired from business, who had invested 
their funds in insurance stock with a view to get 
a large income. I will mention one instance which 
affects me very sensibly. The family of my late 
partner, Mr. Wells, have sustained a loss of 
$50,000, which is the principal part of the estate. 
Indeed, his two eldest daughters are reduced to an 
income of less than $100 a year each. Hundreds of 
cases equally afflicting have doubtless occurred . I , 
fortunately, owned no insurance stock, nor a single 
mortgage upon property within the district burnt. 
This district covers about 52 acres, and doubtless 
contained property of greater value than any 
other district of equal extent in the City. The 
night, you may remember, was intensely cold, 
there were two fires during the preceding night, 
and the firemen were completely exhausted and the 
hose and engines frozen and deranged. Add to 
this, that a quarrel had existed among the fire- 
men themselves, and consequently there was no 
harmony or concert between them. 

Our insurance companies you perceive are all 
ruined, or nearly so. Brother Joseph's occupation 
is gone, and he is thrown back to his former help- 
less situation. But there are hundreds of others 
in this situation. I have often thought of your 



144 letter* of <©. JU, Strong 

Coddington mortgage. Should the buildings be 
burnt down, I take it for granted your security- 
would prove insufficient. I think you ought to 
see that the property is reinsured, and the policy 
assigned to you. No time should be lost in your 
attention to this matter. 

Yours very respectfully, 

GEO. W. STRONG, 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of Feb. 18, 1836. 

The late fire in this city originated in a store in 
Merchants Street. It is generally supposed that 
it was the result of accident, or carelessness, in not 
properly securing or extinguishing the gas-lights, 
which breaking out again after the clerks had left 
the store, came in contact with the dry goods on 
the counter directly under the lamps, and produced 
the conflagration. 

The influence of this fire has been contrary to 
every possible conception which could reasonably 
have been anticipated in regard to it. It is said 
that a lot in the burnt district will now sell for 
more than the lot and store on it before the fire. 
This may be attributable to the extension of 
Beaver Street to Pearl Street, and the closing of 



Hettera of <©. ML Strong 145 

Merchants Street. It is astonishing to see the 
effect of this alteration. It is understood that 
Beaver Street is to be equal in point of business 
to Pearl Street, and this again has extended itself 
to the lower part of Broadway, where a number of 
stores are to be erected during the next season. 
Property in the lower part of Broadway has, since 
the fire, and in consequence of the fire, advanced 
at least fifty per cent. Mr. Jay has sold the 
property occupied formerly by his father, (the 
old stone house next door but one to Daniel Lud- 
low's), for $100,000, which two years ago he would 
gladly have sold for $50,000. Rents have ad- 
vanced most enormously. It is no uncommon 
event for a store to rent for $6,000 a year. We 
have taken our offices after May next in Broadway 
on the corner of Exchange Place, (late Garden 
Street). The house in which our offices are taken 
last year rented for $1200; now it is let on a lease 
for $2500 a year. 

Shortly after the fire, not knowing what course 
business was to take, I pretty much determined 
to sell my horses and carriage. But I have now 
abandoned this idea, at least for the present. 
They are a source of a great deal of expense, and 
sometimes of no small vexation. However, there 
is a great convenience in having them. . . . 



146 Hetter* of #. WL. Strong 

What follows you will please to consider entre nous, 
I have been some time past a good deal pressed to 
accept of a professorship in the Law Faculty 
about to be set up in this city, and to be attached 
to the new University. At the head of it is Ben- 
jamin F. Butler, Esq., the present Attorney- 
General of the United States. His term of office 
will expire on the 4th March, 1837, when he is to 
take charge of this Law Faculty. Two professors 
besides himself are wanted. He is very solicitous 
that I should be one of them. I have been in 
habits of close intimacy and friendship with him 
for the last twelve or fifteen years. He is a very 
superior man, and his private life most exemplary. 
He has named me to Dr. Matthews, who strongly 
insists on my acceptance. The third person is not 
yet fixed upon. Under these circumstances, I have 
said, and written to Mr. Butler to the same 
effect, that, as at present advised and situated, I 
must decline. That if the appointments are de- 
ferred for a future period, and one should then be 
offered to me, I would then give an answer, it being 
understood that I should then be at perfect liberty 
to decide as I chose. My principal difficulties 
are connected with my son. I intend him for the 
law. There is no more idle class in this community 
than law students, and none more exposed to vice 



Hettera of 0. M. strong 147 

and bad habits. If George is to go into a lawyer's 
office, and my life is spared, I consider it my im- 
perative duty to see after him. Again, should I 
continue in business till he is licensed, I shall then 
be able to assist him, both as to business and 
clients, and in that way may be of great advan- 
tage to him in his commencement, when assistance 
is most needed. These are my principal objec- 
tions. On the other hand, there are great induce- 
ments to engage in this Faculty. The field of 
usefulness, if it succeeds, is beyond calculation. 
It must tell immensely on the future destinies of 
this State. The name and talents of Mr. Butler 
will give it celebrity at once throughout this State, 
and probably the United States. The lowest 
calculation is 75 students, and from that to 150. 

You see that I have not yet closed the door. My 
intention has been just to leave it so far open as to 
admit of my entrance should future circumstances 
render it desirable. Now, having stated the ob- 
ject, and the pros and cons, what would you advise 
me to do? 



Letter of Mar. 19, 1836. 

This season of the year is usually a very busy 
one with me, and this year more so than heretofore. 



148 lUtter* of <©. Wi. strong 

I presume to say that, since the Great Fire, more 
than half of my professional business has been 
attributable in one way or other to that event. 
I am employed in the winding up of the busi- 
ness of six of the insolvent Insurance Companies. 
Some of these have already recommenced the 
business of insurance under very favorable cir- 
cumstances. ... I have not yet seen the 
fine oxen you speak of. When they come to 
town, should I hear of it, I certainly will en- 
deavor to get a sight of them. With all de- 
ference to your judgment I must beg leave to 
differ from you as to the expediency of my ac- 
ceptance of the professorship. I am under no 
apprehension as to my obtaining it if I would 
accept it. Indeed my great difficulty is to 
decline it so as to avoid giving offense. It ap- 
pears to me that the occupation will not be con- 
genial with my habits, and I cannot get over 
the objections connected with my son. You 
may readily imagine that many of my future 
calculations and dependencies are bottomed upon 
him. His movements, habits and inclinations 
call for incesssant inspection and watchfulness. 
I have always been accustomed to labor and 
application, nor do I calculate to relax till I go 
hence. 



Hettera of &. M. strong 149 

Letter of April 15, 1836. 

But the pressure for money now is beyond all 
conception and greater than during the panic, and 
if we have not shortly some most tremendous ex- 
plosions, I shall be mistaken. I think we are all 
beside ourselves. The prevailing plan seems to 
be to make an immense fortune in a trice, and that 
without any labor, and by some bold stroke. Now, 
if this succeeds eventually, it will not only "be 
something new under the sun," but the moral 
effect of it, as an example, will be most prejudicial. 
The spirit of speculation is extending itself all over 
the country. What would you think of such men 
as Samuel Hicks and John B. Lawrence speculat- 
ing in City lots, at an enormous price, in Toledo, 
on the Maumee River ? Did you ever hear of this 
place before ? It is the bone of contention between 
Ohio and Michigan, the place destined, (as is said), 
to command the future commerce of Lake Michi- 
gan. Not only immense sums are expended by 
gentlemen of this city in the purchase of lots and 
grading of streets for this to be city, (which now 
I understand is covered with stumps), but it is 
said that princely fortunes have already been 
realised by those who entered early into the 
speculation. 



150 Hetter* of <g. WL. strong 

Letter of May 20, 1836. 

I had a most delightful and gratifying visit to 
Boston. Eloise is perfectly well and contented 
and happy. Mr. Derby is excessively occupied, 
and I think attends too closely to business, more 
so than I have ever done, and in this respect I have 
erred most egregiously. They breakfast regularly 
at quarter before 7, and it is generally 8 in 
the evening before Mr. D. gets through with 
his business. His constitution cannot endure 
such intense application. Eloise keeps her 
house as nice as you can conceive, and every- 
thing is conducted with the regularity of clock- 
work. . . . 

Eloise is calculating upon a visit from you and 
your daughters in June next. I sincerely hope 
you will not disappoint her, as she will be very 
happy to see you and them, and I am equally con- 
fident that the visit will be very gratifying on 
your part. When you go, you ought to engage 
berths something like a week beforehand. On 
our return, the boat had upwards of 300 passen- 
gers, and it was difficult to get a place even to sit 
down. Had I not engaged berths about ten days 
previously, I know not how we could have passed 
the night. 



Hetter* of <©. ML strong 151 

Letter of June 3, 1836. 

I cannot take berths for you till I learn what 
day you intend leaving Boston. Please let me 
know in the course of next week. The great diffi- 
culty as to berths does not exist here but at Provi- 
dence, where all the passengers come on board from 
the cars in a body, and then he who has the least 
politeness and the most bodily strength is sure to 
crowd his way first to the Captain's office, and 
secure his berth. When you take berths in ad- 
vance you do not pay for them at the time, nor do 
you pay at all if you do not go in the boat. The 
effect, as I understand, is simply to secure a prefer- 
ence in case you go. I hope the storm will be over 
before the 13* inst. M r . Woolsey, (the Pres* of 
the Boston and P. R. R. Co.), having urgent busi- 
ness to take him to Boston, was to have left here 
last Monday, but has been prevented by the 
weather hitherto. 

I am extremely anxious that you and your 
daughters should make the contemplated visit. 
I anticipate that it will afford you and them high 
gratification. I like the people of Boston very 
much, and if Eloise were to move from there here, 
I should regret it on her account. You will find 
her and M r . Derby most happy to see you and 



152 Hetter* of &. M. strong 

your daughters, and as comfortably and happily 
situated as you can wish. 



Letter of August 17, 1836. 

I had a delightful excursion to Boston and New 
Hampshire. In 16 hours and 10 minutes precisely, 
after leaving the dock in this city, we were safe 
in Boston. My Derby has a most beautiful and 
fertile island of about 500 acres in Lake Winnepe- 
saukee. He has 36 of the finest cows I ever saw 
together, ranging over a pasture of about 250 acres 
and making about 70 lbs of cheese per day. The 
surface of the island is about half rock, and yet its 
productiveness is almost incredible. The over- 
seer, (whose veracity I cannot doubt), assured me 
he had raised 94 bushels of oats, over 100 bushels 
of corn, and 41 bushels of wheat to the acre, and 
had on several occasions taken the premium at 
the Agricultural Society. The house stands on an 
elevation of about 200 feet over the waters of the 
lake, commanding an extensive view in every 
direction, so that you can count about 400 build- 
ings in view at the same time. The scenery far 
surpasses in my judgement that of the Highlands 
or any other place on the North River. 



Hettera of <©♦ ML Strong 153 

New York, 30^ August, 1836. 

My Dear Sir: 

M r . Emmet returned home last Saturday even- 
ing. Yesterday I saw him in the street and com- 
municated to him verbally the contents of your 
last letter. . . . After the statement which I 
made to him M T . E. said he did not see how he 
could with any degree of propriety decline paying 
the draft, and desired me to write him a note to 
the effect that you insisted upon payment of the 
draft, a copy of which he would enclose to P. 
. . . On the other side is a draft of the note, 
which I will send him today. 

COPY OF LETTER 

New York, 30^ August, 1836. 

My Dear Sir: 

I communicated to M r . Lloyd M* Pearsall's 
request that you would not pay his draft for 
$1500. with interest till you heard further from 
him on the subject. M r . Lloyd was very much 
surprised at this intelligence, and is at a loss to 
account for it. His arrangement with M r . Pear- 
sail was most explicit, but he declined to consum- 
mate it until after seeing you, and learning from 
you that the order would be duly honored should 
you be in funds, or have other available means for 



154 better* of <©♦ M. strong 

that purpose. Upon the faith of your assurance 
he accepted the draft, and parted with his 
property. He asks, with great propriety, why 
M* Pearsall gave his order for $1500., if a less 
sum was to be paid. I have the most entire con- 
fidence in the correctness of his views on this 
subject, and that M r . Pearsall must labor under 
some singular mistake in regard to it. 

M? Lloyd insists, and I think with perfect 
propriety, upon the payment of the order according 
to its face, and that the pledge which you gave 
him should be redeemed, as I have no doubt it will 

be. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
THOS. A. EMMET ESQ. 

Note: Thomas Addis Emmet, elsewhere mentioned in these 
letters, died in New York City, November 14, 1827. The Mr. 
Emmet of this period is probably his son, Thomas Addis Emmet, 
Jr. He was a lawyer, and, for a number of years, a Master in 
Chancery. 



Letter of Nov. 22, 1836. 

I fear your fond anticipations as to the result 
of the Presidential election have ere this all van- 
ished. I believe the fact is now conceded, even 
by M* Van Buren's political opponents, that he 
will be elected by the Colleges without going into 



betters; of <©. M- strong 155 

the House of Representatives. North Carolina 
was the last hope of the Whigs, and she has gone 
for him. Without any pretensions to prescience, 
I have always said he would be our next President, 
and the rejection of him by the Senate as Minister 
to England was decisive of this result, just as our 
Corporation turning out Gulick as Chief Engineer 
has made him Register by a majority of upwards 
of 5000 votes. 

The currency of the country, I believe, is bad 
enough, but it appears to me that is not the root 
of the existing evil. I am disposed to attribute 
it entirely to a universal spirit of speculation 
pervading the whole country. Take one fact, 
upon a very small scale. Suppose that the land 
speculators in this city are now paying an interest 
upon 10 Millions of dollars, secured upon real 
estate, which, without producing any income 
whatever, is constantly liable to taxes and very 
heavy assessments, and you see at once that, among 
them at least, there must be a very great scarcity 
of money; and suppose again that these same 
speculators, having really no means of their own, 
are forced to pay 2 and 3 per cent, per month for 
money, and where must they certainly and speedily 
end ? This is only one instance, and a great many 
more might be adduced. 



156 Hetter* of <g. M. Strong 

George Griswold has been very much censured 
and ridiculed for his mission to Washington, and 
he feels it very sorely. He has taken occasion 
to explain his views to me, and it would not be 
proper for me to repeat all that he told me. But 
let the state of things have been ever so bad, he has 
done nothing more than postpone the evil day till 
I s . 1 January next. Then, by law, the surplus 
revenue in this city, (probably $10,000,000.), must 
be principally withdrawn. Mr Woodbury wished 
to do this by degrees, so that the shock might not 
be overwhelming. But it must come, and when 
it does come the specie will be required on many of 
the drafts, and it is conceded there is not specie 
enough to satisfy them. I do not profess to have 
any financial knowledge, but from all I can learn, 
it does appear to me that before the first of May 
next there will be some most awful explosions in this 
city and elsewhere. We have gone altogether too 
fast. Instead of acquiring a moderate com- 
petency by a whole life of honest industry and due 
economy, the present aim is to acquire a splendid 
fortune in a year or two. This plan never has 
succeeded, and it never ought to succeed. 

Note: George Griswold had been married to Mr. Strong's 
niece, Elizabeth Woodhull, sister of the Revd. Selah Strong 
Woodhull, D.D. 



Hettera of <©. M. Strong 157 

Letter of Dec. 17, 1836. 

Yours of the 10^ inst. came duly to hand. I 
have procured two Annuals which accompany 
this. The cost was $10. As I am not a very com- 
petent judge of the merits of productions of this 
description, I commissioned Mary to purchase 
them, not that I think her judgement in matters 
of taste is superior, but because I thought she was 
less liable to err in this respect than myself. The 
enclosed letter to one of your daughters is from her, 
in which you may take it for granted she makes no 
allusion to the Annuals. 

On the receipt of your letter, I addressed a letter 
to M* Pillsbury, (Mr Derby's tenant on Cow 
Island), requesting from him the information in 
detail which you desire. He is a shrewd, close, 
calculating Yankee, possessed of very considerable 
intelligence as well as of sterling integrity, and 
should he get the letter I have no doubt he will 
return a very satisfactory answer. The P. O. is 
about 10 miles from his island, at Wolfsborough. 



Letter of Feb. ii, 1837. 

I now enclose you another paper, which perhaps 
will gratify you still more. It is the copy of a 



158 Hettera of <§♦ Wl. Strong 

hymn written by General Hamilton when he was 
19 years old, and presented to his intended wife a 
year before their marriage. The copy is in the 
handwriting of his widow, and by her presented 
to me, she showing me the original manuscript in 
the General's handwriting. This good old lady 
is a very extraordinary person. She is now 82 
years old and exhibits no symptoms of decay, 
either of body or of mind. She resides at St. 
Mark's Place, and very frequently walks from her 
house to my office and back. I have seen a great 
deal of her, and I can scarcely name a person to 
whom I am more sincerely attached. She pos- 
sesses a most gigantic mind. She is the first 
Directress of the Orphan Asylum Society, for 
which I have done a good deal of professional 
business, and that has led to the intercourse be- 
tween us. She delights to dwell upon the charac- 
ter and virtues of her husband, and has told me a 
great many anecdotes about him and General 
Washington. She values the hymn chiefly as 
containing very strong and consoling evidence of 
the early piety of her husband. I confess I value 
it myself and wish to preserve it, and must there- 
fore ask you to return it. I advised her to publish 
it, but she seems to think it too sacred to submit 
to the public gaze and criticism, and I think she 



Hettera of <©. W. Strong 159 

judges rightly in this respect. She has shown me 
also the written instructions drawn up by her 
husband for the regulation of the conduct of his 
son Philip, (who was killed in a duel), while he 
was a student at law. They certainly do the 
General great credit, and show that he had a 
supreme regard for all the decencies and proprieties 
of life, and that he was a most excellent father. 



Letter of March 28, 1837. 

The times here have been and still are awful. 
The poor merchants have as much as they can 
possibly stagger under, and the speculators are, 
most of them, emphatically ' ' poor dogs. ' ' George 
has just completed the first and principal term of 
his Junior year, during which he has studied full 
as much as I could wish. He often sits up till 
one o'clock in the morning, which is rather too 
much. His progress has been very satisfactory 
to me. The testimonials are to be announced and 
distributed next Monday, and I have good reason 
to believe, indeed to know, that he will verify your 
prediction in taking the first or general certificate 
in his class. The error which he heretofore com- 
mitted was an over-attention to the classics, to the 
neglect of some other branches. This he has now 



160 ILttttx* of <©. WL. strong 

corrected, and become satisfied that his lessons 
and all his lessons claim his first attention. I 
have at length got him in such a state of training 
that I can manage him just as I wish. 



Letter of April io, 1837. 

This city never saw such times before. It 
would seem as if universal ruin were threatening 
us. I know M' Lawrence has been run hard for 
money. What may be the issue I cannot tell. 
Should he stop payment, I should deem it im- 
prudent to communicate your answer to him, 
although even, in that event, with his father's 
name, I should consider the loan as eventually per- 
fectly safe. There is no possibility of foreseeing 
what may happen. I know a gentleman who 
offered $100,000 of the very best securities the 
City affords for the loan of $50,000 for one year, 
and could not obtain the money, and was com- 
pelled to stop. I would not ask MT Lawrence 
for my money if I was perfectly persuaded that 
by simply asking I should get it. I would rather 
that the property should be invested in his and his 
father's bond, than have it lying on deposit to my 
credit in any Bank in this city. 



Hetter* of <&. M. strong 161 

Letter of May 5, 1837. 

My anticipations, however gloomy, have thus 
far been more than realized. I think the crisis 
began yesterday. This month, I think, will de- 
cide the fate of this City, perhaps this country, for 
years to come. I cannot go into particulars. You 
will learn them from the newspapers. The scene 
thickens daily, except that yesterday the excite- 
ment was increased much more than on any pre- 
vious day. How far the banks will be able to 
stand is very uncertain. They will die hard, but 
if the disease is mortal they cannot withstand it. 



Letter of June 7, 1837. 

I cannot believe that the prospect before us 
brightens at all. Indeed, I think it evidently grows 
worse. There is no business doing among the 
merchants. The laboring classes are thrown out 
of employment. Even the business of lawyers 
has essentially diminished. No Custom House 
bonds are paid. Merchants have become callous 
about their credit, and the utmost extent to which 
they will go is to renew their notes, paying 10 or 
20 per cent of the face of them. Many stores and 
dwellings are without a tenant, and the streets 



1 62 ILttttvti of <©. W. strong 

full of idle vagabonds. Such a state of things I 
never saw before, nor do I see when, where or how 
it is to end. 



Letter of July 5, 1837. 

But I am entirely confident that if Jackson had 
let the currency alone, and permitted the U. S. 
Bank's charter to be renewed, it would not have 
[saved] the commercial world from the dreadful 
hurricane which is now sweeping away everything 
valuable before it. The evil had its origin in too 
much haste to be rich. That disposition must be 
laid aside, and the evil which it has brought must 
be endured. We may then begin anew with a 
fair prospect of slow and gradual accumulation, 
till the same disposition again prevails. 



Letter of Aug. 30, 1837. 

I have lately seen repeatedly M T . Ditmis, who 
taught the Academy at Huntington at the times 
your sisters and myself went to school there. He 
is a very respectable man and an agreeable com- 
panion. I have seen him at his house, and he has 
visited me in this city. My family is at present 



Hettera of <©♦ W. strong 163 

in the country at Whitestone, with the exception 
of Mary, who stays with and keeps house for 
me. . . . 

I suppose you would smile to be told that I have 
had LL.D. very unexpectedly added to my name. 
For this I am indebted to a College in Vermont. 
. . . But the less said about it, and certainly 
the less said to me on the subject, the better. I 
am occasionally bored by the appellation of Doctor, 
but I give it the go-by as well as I can. 



Letter of Oct. 24.TH, 1837. 

Although somewhat disappointed at George's 
defeat, it does not grieve me at all. He must take 
his chance through this hard and wearisome life. 
He is certainly not wanting in resolution and 
energy, and expresses a wish to begin life depend- 
ing solely upon his own exertions. Poor, inex- 
perienced boy, he little knows what ills await him, 
should his life be spared. If he will only take to 
the paths of virtue and become a good man, I will 
most cheerfully resign all pretensions to anything 
else. ... In less than a year, George, if he 
lives, will be in the office with me as a student. 
My principal object will then be to instruct him, 



1 64 better* of #. W. Strong 

and build up a little establishment for him, by 
the time he is licensed. 

Note: This refers to a college examination, in which Mr. 
Strong's son, George, did not attain first place. 



Letter of November 7, 1837. 

In the meantime I must say your last letter 
contains some very important truths. You hit 
the nail exactly on the head when you say that 
solicitude is one of my great foibles. It is indeed 
so. I have been a prey to it all my life, and I am 
sensible it increases upon me. I have not the 
least doubt that if I would set resolutely about 
practising upon your prescriptions, it would afford 
me very sensible relief, and probably be the means 
of lengthening my life. 



Letter of November 13, 1837. 

I know of no individual in the circle of my ac- 
quaintance from whom I anticipate such heart- 
felt satisfaction at the result of the recent election 
in this State as from your good self. It indeed 
astonishes everybody, both friend and foe. What 
poor Van Buren and his Cabinet will now do it is 
impossible to conjecture. I think this is a decisive 



Hetters of <©. M. Strong 165 

and irresistible blow to his popularity and future 
political prospects. I have nothing to say in his 
favor. But I cannot yield my conviction that 
Mr. Butler, the Attorney General and a member 
of his Cabinet, is an honest man, and means to 
promote the welfare of the country. Heretofore 
I have generally been in the habit of forming a 
ticket for myself, selected from all the tickets, 
without reference to party. But on the present 
occasion I voted the entire Whig ticket. 

Note: " The great panic of 1837 dealt a blow at the adminis- 
tration, [of Mr. Van Buren], in the first year of its existence." 
Stanwood's History of Presidential Elections. 



New York, 8th Jany., 1838. 

My Dear Sir: 

. . . I do not give myself much trouble about 
the question of slavery, by which this country is 
at present so much agitated. As an individual, 
I detest slavery in every shape. But I cannot 
yield to the propriety of interfering with the rights 
of others in this respect. . . . 

I tender you sincere congratulations on the re- 
turn of a new year. With the commencement of 
it, I have resolved to turn over a new leaf, in at 
least two respects, the one is to take more exercise, 
and the other is to read less Greek. I walk regu- 



1 66 Hettera of <©. W. strong 

larly about six miles a day, and I already experi- 
ence the benefit of it. As for Greek, strange to 
say, I have contracted as much fondness for it as 
a drunkard for strong drink. I began it during 
the Cholera of 1832, and have continued it ever 
since. During that time, I have read iEsop's 
Fables twice, Jacob's Greek Reader twice, the 
Septuagint three times, the Iliad twice, the 
Odyssey once, Graeca-Majora and Minora, all 
Xenophon's writings, Herodotus and the Greek 
Testament, which latter I have read thro I know 
not how many times. I believe this language to 
be the most philosophical and perfect, and at the 
same time the most difficult, of any that ever 
existed. I am now by no means able to read 
a Greek author with the same facility that I can 
read English, with the exception of a very few, 
such as Xenophon, and the Greek Testament, and 
the Septuagint. There is no comparison between 
reading the Greek Testament and the English 
translation, as it regards the understanding of the 
author. There are innumerable beauties in the 
former which cannot be discovered in the latter. 
Besides, there is scarcely a page which is correctly 
translated, and yet, if I had the power, (so great 
an enemy am I to innovation) , I would not alter a 
single word in the present translation, excepting 



Hetter* of 4£. M. strong 167 

always one verse which is contained in 1 Cor., 7 
chap., 36 verse. This is abominably translated. 
I once called the attention of Sereno E. Dwight to 
it and asked him what it meant. He frankly ad- 
mitted he had no idea of it. I then told him the 
exposition of it given by Valpey, in his edition of 
the Greek Testament, and showed him how per- 
fectly the original justified that exposition, at 
which he was very much and agreeably surprised. 
This edition of Valpey, (who was one of the great- 
est Greek scholars that ever lived, and who is 
recently deceased), is in three volumes, with very 
copious notes in English, Latin and Greek, mostly 
of the former, and I have always considered it as 
the most valuable book in the world. I now limit 
myself to reading two chapters in the Greek 
Testament, or Septuagint, every weekday, and 
no more. On Sunday, I indulge myself in reading 
as much as 1 please. 

As to the writings of Homer, there is something 
about them peculiarly great. I must say that, 
contrary to most others, and far better judges 
than myself, I prefer his Odyssey to the Iliad. I 
have read several of Scott's novels, and been de- 
lighted with them, but my feelings were never 
excited to anything like what I experienced in 
reading the Odyssey. 



1 68 betters of <©. WL Strong 

Now, my good sir, I have been imperceptibly 
betrayed into writing you a Greek letter, which I 
fear will give you no interest whatever. If so, 
please to excuse it and frankly tell me so, and I 
will trouble you in this way no more. 

Give my love to your daughters, and wish them 
a happy New Year from me. My health is now 
much better. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: Other evidence of Mr. Strong's wide appreciation of 
literature is his traditional amusement over the Pickwick Papers, 
especially the Bardell Trial, which he is said to have perused 
repeatedly, and to have been delighted with, particularly the 
portrait of the presiding Judge. 



Letter of January 25, 1838. 

The passage to which I referred in my last, and 
of which you desired me to give Mr. Valpey's 
exposition, is to this effect. . . . But, with all 
submission to the opinion and better judgement of 
others, I cannot read some passages of St. Paul, 
(and this among others), without coming to the 
conclusion that he thought it was better to avoid 
marriage, although he certainly nowhere goes to 



Hettera of <©. W. Strong 169 

the extent of saying or intimating that it is sinful 
to marry, and therefore I have more charity for 
Monks and Nuns than many others. It is no 
answer to my mind to say that he puts his objec- 
tions upon the peculiar state of the Infant Church 
at the period when he wrote. His reasoning ap- 
pears to me to have a much broader basis, extend- 
ing to all times and all circumstances in life. He 
appears to me to put himself upon the broad 
ground that marriage is, in itself, an impediment 
to vital purity. Perhaps I am wrong in this view, 
and I know that all commentators labor very hard 
to put another construction upon his writings, 
whether satisfactory or not everyone should judge 
for himself. 



Letter of February 17, 1838. 

I have read Scott's account of the Napoleon 
Code, and like what he says on the subject very 
much. I do not think, however, he does it entire 
justice. The truth is that the French Code of 
Commercial Law is the most celebrated of any 
extant, and the compilers did little else to this 
branch of the subject than reduce to order and 
arrangement the materials already prepared for 



170 Hetter* of <©. 8H. strong 

them. In this respect, neither Bonaparte nor 
those whom he employed were entitled to much 
credit. But the Code itself, is, in my humble 
opinion, entitled to more praise than Scott be- 
stows upon it. I am free, however, to confess 
that I am prejudiced against Scotch lawyers. 
Don't you recollect that when you went to St. 
Croix, (which I think was in the winter of 1820), 
I got you to attend to a piece of business there for 
me? It had then been under my care for three 
years. It is now pending in the highest court of 
Scotland, and not long since the case was decided 
by Jeffrey, (the great critic, and a Judge, and a 
Lord). Such a decision I never saw before. One 
would judge from it that he understood every- 
thing but law. It became necessary to appeal 
from his decision, which has since been reversed. 
But, for the last six or seven years, my correspond- 
ence with Scotch lawyers has disgusted me with 
their legal notions. The question was simply 
whether the courts in Scotland would give effect 
to a decree regularly obtained in our Court of 
Chancery, and Lord Jeffrey, in the plenitude of 
his wisdom and legal lore, decided it was not even 
prima facie evidence of indebtedness. I have a 
large pamphlet containing his decision, and the 
arguments of counsel, in which Chancellor Wal- 



Hetter* of <&. BH. Strong 171 

worth and your friend Robert Tillotson are 
represented in no enviable light. I mention 
this as the reason why, perhaps, I cannot do en- 
tire justice to Scott's criticism of the Napoleon 
Code. 

I think your friend, Mr. Webster, is rather losing 
ground, as it regards his prospect for the next 
Presidency, and that Clay seems to be the more 
likely to supplant him. The action of the Legis- 
lature of Rhode Island was quite unexpected. 
But, after all, I would rather be Webster than 
Clay, and I believe the former to be the greater 
man of the two. But whether either will ever be 
President is highly doubtful. Do you know that 
Van Buren is losing ground fast? The reason 
assigned surprises me. It is said that, however com- 
petent he may be to govern a party, yet that he is 
incompetent to the task of conducting the affairs 
of a nation, and that, in this respect, he has dis- 
appointed the expectations of his best friends. I 
always supposed that the want of talents could 
never be properly laid to his charge, however de- 
ficient he might be in other respects. On the 
subject of the currency, I cannot persuade my- 
self that he is not, in the main, correct. I do 
not allude to his Sub-Treasury system, but to 
his opposition to the multiplication of banks, 



172 better* of <©. W. strong 

and his want of confidence in their safety and 
permanency. 

Note: Francis Jeffrey, (i 773-1 850), editor of the Edinburgh 
Review, became a Judge of the Court of Session, taking his seat 
on the bench as Lord Jeffrey on June 7, 1834. This is the supreme 
Court of Scotland. Appeals lie from it to the House of Lords. 



Letter of March io, 1838. 

I intimated to you some time ago that this 
Spring I contemplated to dissolve my connection 
with my present partners. This dissolution will 
take place on the first of next month, after which 
I do not intend to work so hard. My motive 
arises principally from my son, who will in the 
course of a few months come into the office, and 
for whom I wish to build up a little establishment 
by the time he is admitted to the bar. My means 
are not very ample, but the interest is a little more 
than what is necessary for my support, and while 
I avoid loss of principal I am not desirous of 
adding to it. 



Letter of April 3, 1838. 

I am in receipt of your letter of the 24^ ult° 
with the Scotch law-pamphlet. 



Hetter* of <©. Ml. Strong 173 

So you think Montgomerie ought not to pay 
the money due to the Southgates. Of all the suits 
that I have ever had, none has troubled and vexed 
me as much as this, and candor requires me to add 
that my feelings are so highly excited that I am 
not an impartial judge of the merits of the con- 
troversy. But if the case is fresh in your recol- 
lection, I should like to be favored with a view of 
your reasons in favor of Montgomerie. The con- 
troversy, I take it for granted, will never be 
abandoned until it has been decided by the House 
of Lords in England, which is the tribunal of last 
resort, and by which a great many appeals from 
Scotland are decided, and most generally reversed. 



Letter of May ii, 1838. 

I have now commenced on my new establish- 
ment, and on my own hook. But I fear I have 
only jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire. 
I intended and expected to do but little business, 
rather for employment than profit. But thus far 
I have found a very decided increase of pressure to 
an extent as unexpected as it is undesirable. But 
I console myself with the hope that at this season 
there is always a press of law business, which 
usually subsides as the warm weather advances. 



174 letter* of #. M. strong 

Letter of July 4, 1838. 

George is now undergoing his last and final 
examination in College. When that is over, I 
hope to avail myself somewhat of his services, and 
look forward to it as one of the principal means of 
my relief. At other times, I feel half inclined to 
shut up the office, and discontinue business, but 
that again would be attended with serious diffi- 
culties. My desire is to do less business, and yet 
I cannot make up my mind to decline it, when it is 
offered. My fear is that my health will give way 
under it. 

My love to your daughters. I feel seriously 
and deeply for Angelina. She is about to take a 
step upon which her future destiny must essen- 
tially depend, and which will be either for better 
or worse, but of the importance of which she, of 
course, can have no adequate conceptions. Mary 
seems to have made up her mind to remain in 
statu quo, and as long as she seems to be perfectly 
contented with it, I am by no means prepared to 
say it is not for the best. 



Letter of July 31, 1838. 

I was very happy of the opportunity of being 
made acquainted with Mf Higbie by means of 



TLttttxti of #. W. strong 175 

your letter of introduction. I found him to be all 
that I could wish. He obviously has seen a great 
deal of men and manners, and has profited well 
of the opportunities which he has had. He is 
remarkably good looking, and of very gentle, 
manly manners. There is certainly every pros- 
pect that his union with your family will prove a 
source of lasting and real happiness to you and 
your daughter, for which you all have my best and 
most sincere wishes. When the day is fixed, if you 
will let me know a few days, say a week, previously, 
I will do myself the pleasure to be present, and I 
assure you that no ordinary occurrence shall 
prevent me. . . . 

George has entered my office, but will not com- 
mence his attendance till after his Commencement, 
which takes place the beginning of October next. 
He has the Latin Salutatory, the composition of 
which he has just completed. Notwithstanding 
all his hard study, he comes off second best. But 
as there is no evil without its corresponding good, 
if properly improved, so I hope he will learn from 
his defeat a lesson at least of humility. He has, 
however, studied as hard and as faithfully as I 
could wish, and done all in his power to gain 
success. Professor Anthon does not hesitate to say 
that George was entitled to rank first, and so 



176 Hetter* of <©♦ «L Strong 

voted, but was outvoted by the rest of the Faculty. 
His successful rival is now the Principal of the 
Academy in Utica, with a salary of $800 a year, 
with the promise of having it speedily advanced to 
$1500. George speaks most decidedly of his own 
preference for self-dependence alone, and I am by 
no means certain that the best course for him in 
the end would not be that he should now be cast 
friendless and penniless upon the world, and left to 
work his own way through it, so little is the value 
to be placed upon treasuring up riches for heirs! 
When he comes into the office to take an active 
part in the duties of it, I shall soon be able to 
solve the uncertain but most interesting problem, 
whether he will become a man of business. This I 
consider a sine qua non, without which his attain- 
ments and capacities, both mental and bodily, are, 
in my estimation, of but little value. 



Letter of August 23, 1838. 

If I recollect correctly, I have heard you speak 
of being, for a short time, many years ago, a fellow 
boarder of Horace Binney, Esq., of Philadelphia, 
and who now ranks as one of the most prominent 
and eminent lawyers in this country. His only 
son, now a lawyer of very handsome promise in 



Hettera of <©. 8H. strong 177 

Philadelphia, is engaged to Miss Eliza Johnson, 
the second daughter of Mrs. Strong's sister. This 
match has been concocted at Newport, where the 
parties casually met at the same temporary board- 
ing house. I really consider it a great match on 
the part of the young lady, and I have reason to 
believe that it is highly gratifying to her parents. 



Letter of Sept. 7, 1838. 

I was somewhat disappointed to learn that 
your daughter had deferred her marriage till next 
Spring, but I have no doubt it was "for good and 
sufficient reasons." I say disappointed, for it 
seems a pity when parties are engaged, when every- 
thing seems to promise fair, and the period fixed 
for the solemnization, to defer it for any consider- 
able length of time. 

I regret to inform you that within the last few 
weeks I have had a recurrence of extreme dejection 
of spirits, to which, it would seem, I am periodi- 
cally subject. The excessive hot weather, the 
absence of my family in the country, excessive 
attention to business, without a single day of 
relaxation, have probably conspired to produce 
this result. I know it is all wrong, and when I 
reflect on my course of life, and compare it with 



178 Hetter* of <©♦ M. strong 

yours, I am constrained to pronounce you a wise 
man, and myself but little short of a madman. 
Still I do not believe that my constitution is radi- 
cally impaired. The bodily labor to which I was 
subject in early life laid the foundation of unusual 
health, but which, if it is to be continued, now 
calls for a good deal of care and more relaxation. 



New York, 24th Sept., 1838. 

My Dear Sir: 

You are entirely right about my too severe ap- 
plication to business. Not a single day during 
the awfully hot weather, or since last May, have I 
taken to myself. This will not do, and I have 
been obliged to form a provisional partnership, 
(that is, provided both parties like it). The 
gentleman I have taken in with me is Mr. Bidwell 
from Upper Canada. You probably have heard 
something of his history. He was banished by Sir 
Francis Head during the late troubles. He had 
nothing whatever to do with the Rebellion there, 
as Head himself has admitted. . . . Mr. Bid- 
well is universally believed to be a persecuted man, 
and upon his coming into this State, our Supreme 
Court and Court of Chancery at once admitted 
him, (in gratia, and in direct violation of a standing 



better* of <©. M. Strong 179 

rule), to practise in all our Courts. I was applied 
to to take him into my office, and was very much 
pressed by his friends. I at first peremptorily 
refused, but the more I saw and heard of him the 
better I liked him, until finally I consented to take 
him on trial. He has been with me about ten 
days, and thus far I should be extremely unwilling 
to part with him. That he is a man of very supe- 
rior talents and attainments, and of a most un- 
blemished character, is admitted by everyone 
who knows him. Should he remain here in the 
prof ession for any length of time, I hazard nothing 
in predicting that he will become one of the first 
lawyers in this State. He is poor, and determined 
to make his way among us. Now, I am free to say 
that one motive with me has been to aid a very 
deserving man. George comes into the office 
next week. My clerks are all returned except one. 
My spirits have revived, and the prospect ahead 
looks favorable. 



Letter of Oct. 19, 1838. 

I have delayed writing you longer than I should 
have done, had I not latterly been engaged con- 
stantly in Court for the last six days. Your 
cousins, the Messrs Coles, have had a most glori- 



180 Hettera of <g, M. Strong 

ous battle in Court about the Harlaem Bridge, 
and have, on the whole, come off completely vic- 
torious. The trial was a very interesting one, and 
called forth every exertion which it was possible 
to make on both sides. Their opponents were the 
whole County of West Chester, who consider the 
bridge an odious monopoly which they wish to 
destroy in order to avoid paying Toll. 

What do your think now of the University? I 
suspect your friend and kinsman, the Rev^ M* 
Tappan, does not speak now quite as favorably 
of . . . as he used to do. I take no part in the 
quarrel. . . . Their present quarrel however 
has added most essentially to the number of stu- 
dents in the [Columbia] College. I really think 
I made a most fortunate escape when I declined 
a law professorship in the University. I cannot 
learn that at any time there have been more than 
12 students attending the Law Lectures. . . . 

M r . Hillhouse favored me also with a copy of 
his poem, and I wrote him a letter of thanks for 
it. Are you sure it is discreditable to him ? You 
are a much better judge than I am on this subject, 
and I dare say you have read it with ten times the 
attention that I have. I thought it very much 
like other poetry, the best of which I never had 



Hettera of <©. Hi. Strong 181 

much taste for, and I see that the New York 
Review speaks of it in very high terms. M T . 
Borland, of Boston, informed me that a copy was 
sent to him. 

What think you now of Van Buren's prospects? 
The Whigs appear to me to be getting in the back- 
ground. The plain truth of the matter is that the 
Democrats have the rabble on their side, and, 
under ordinary circumstances, they must have 
and retain the majority, and ascendency. Such 
is the nature of our government, and, unless I am 
greatly deceived, here lurks the poison which will, 
sooner or later, destroy it. I take it for granted 
that at the approaching election in this State, the 
Whigs will be in large minority. Van Buren is 
the most adroit political leader that ever appeared 
in this country, and altho he may now and then 
miss a figure, he knows how, better than anybody 
else, to recover himself. 



Letter of March 9, 1839. 

I duly received your letter of the 23^ ult?, and 
subsequently the pamphlet of M T . Whipple, of the 
Legislature of Rhode Island. This pamphlet I 
have read with a great deal of pleasure. It is 
written with care and is well reasoned. I have 



1 82 betters; of <©. M. Strong 

preserved it, and will return it to you whenever 
an opportunity presents. I know not what is to 
be the result of this Abolition excitement. There 
is not a man in the country who abhors slavery 
more sincerely than I do, and vet I confidently 
believe the Abolitionists are doing incalculable in- 
jury to the country and to the slaves themselves. 
I insist upon it that no man not residing in a 
slave State has any right to say to the Legislatures 
of such States that they shall abolish slavery, 
and the more the question is agitated, the more 
bent are the slave States in continuing the practice, 
and the slaves are treated with greater severity. 
On the other hand, I am equally opposed to the 
system of colonization in Africa. We cannot 
remove them as fast as the slaves increase in this 
country, and who can tell how many deaths have 
been caused by this project. The truth is, the 
excitement is produced, in both cases, chiefly by 
the pride of opinion, and a set of hirelings who are 
paid for going about the country and making 
proselytes. I have no patience with either, and 
the same remark applies to a great many 
voluntary associates in high repute in this coun- 
try. I am fully satisfied that, on the whole, they 
produce evil rather than good, and I for one will 
contribute no more money to aid their objects. I 



better* of <©. ML Strong 183 

have read a part of Mr. Clay's speech. Like 
everything else from his pen, it is of the highest 
order of intellect, and I must confess that I assent 
to the truth of what he says. Your friend Mr. 
Webster seems to be getting somewhat in the 
background. ... I have read Mr. Verplanck's 
opinion. It is a very able one, and establishes 
an important principle in Marine Insurance. It 
strikes me as new, that is, it may be a clear deduc- 
tion from other principles previously established, 
but the inference itself I have never before seen 
stated, which is the more to the credit of Mr. 
Verplanck. . . . Brothers Benjamin and Joseph 
and myself, this day week, left here on a visit 
to Brother Thomas. We found him better in 
bodily health than we expected. 



Letter of March 20, 1839. 

I return you herewith M* Whipple's dissentient 
Report, and as a fit companion for it, I send you 
the Boston Atlas, containing a letter addressed by 
Harrison Gray Otis to M T . Whipple on the subject 
of his Report. This letter strikes me as a masterly 
production of a very superior order. Its composi- 
tion is excellent, and the principles advanced appear 
to me to be full of the most important truths, and 



1 84 betters of <©. M. Strong 

entirely correct. M T . Whipple may well be proud 
of such a compliment, and say laus a laudato. 



Letter of March 25, 1839. 

The letter of Mr. Otis, . . . strikes me as the 
work of a consummate master. I would rather 
be the author of it than of any production I ever 
read from Webster, Clay or Calhoun, because I 
think it contains more important truths. If I 
were required to explain my views respecting the 
Abolition excitement, I would take that letter and 
say that I adopt it in toto, and would add, with a 
great deal of truth and sincerity, that I could not 
say half as much, nor a twentieth part as well, 
yet being said, I can discover nothing in it which 
does not receive my entire and hearty approbation. 



Letter of April 4, 1839. 

I feel gratified to learn that you think favorably 
of the juvenile piece which I sent you. Altho I 
am not disposed to go the length of the commenda- 
tion which you bestow upon it, yet it struck me 
somewhat favorably, and as I have great confi- 
dence in your judgement and perfect candor, I 



better* of <©. ML Strong 185 

concluded to take the liberty of asking your opinion 
respecting it. You doubtless suspected that 
George wrote it. He read it during his Junior year 
before the Society of which he was a member, and 
one of the members having a brother who edited 
the newspaper in which it appeared, and who 
probably was rather short of original matter, 
and not very competent to make it, got the piece 
and had it published. 



Letter of April 24, 1839. 

I fear I have lately done a very foolish thing, in 
consenting to serve as one of the Commissioners of 
the School fund in this city. There is no com- 
pensation attached to it, and I was induced to 
accept because I was told that I have done very 
little if anything in my life to serve the public. 
Tomorrow I have to devote the entire day to it, 
which is, at this time, excessively inconvenient, as 
I know not how I can leave my office. It will take 
about one entire day per month, the year round. 
You see therefore I have been fool enough to 
accept a very humble office, without any com- 
pensation, and which is to consume a good deal 
of time. 



1 86 Hetter* of &. M, strong 

Letter of May 14, 1839. 

I return you your Greek with George's transla- 
tion. Although the translation is correct, yet it 
falls infinitely short of the beauty and sublimity of 
the original. Who is Justice Williams? I know 
of no judicial character of that name, except the 
present C. J. of Connecticut, and I should hardly 
suspect him of such classical taste and sublimity. 
I consider the original most beautiful. 

Tonight Miss Johnson is to be led to the altar. 
I understand there are great preparations, and 
that there is to be a grand display. All the 
Binneys arrived yesterday, consisting of father, 
mother, three sisters and two brothers, accom- 
panied by a Philadelphia Groomsman. I would 
give a trifle if I could be excused from this cere- 
mony. Poor Mary, I think, has the horrors on 
the occasion. But there is no backing out. 



Letter of May 30, 1839. 

Miss Johnson's wedding went off very well, and, 
altogether contrary to my expectation, I spent a 
very pleasant evening. I had previously formed 
precisely the same opinion of the elder Mr. Binney 
which you expressed. But it was entirely errone- 



ICettera of <©. ML Strong 187 

ous. I found him one of the most agreeable, 
unassuming gentlemen I ever met with. One is 
at home and perfect ease with him at the first 
moment of introduction to him. I could not but 
remark the striking contrast between him and 
. . . , who was one of the guests, the former 
presenting the dignity of a perfect gentleman, and 
the latter descending to the level of a fool, or, 
rather, talking and acting without the least regard 
to self-respect. The elder Mr. Binney and his 
eldest daughter were by far the most prominent 
objects of admiration. She is said to be very 
highly accomplished, and possessed of great 
literary acquirements. She sang in French and 
Greek, and is said to be a great proficient in vari- 
ous languages. Mrs. Ledyard, whom you know, 
and who was present, speaking to me of the elder 
Mr. Binney said : ' ' He is the finest looking of any 
of his family, but don't you tell Mrs. Johnson that 
I said so." Mrs. Wells said Mr. Beach Lawrence 
says that young Mr. Binney is the greatest match 
in the United States!!! The truth is that the 
bridegroom is not very good looking, and is ex- 
cessively diffident. . . . But he is certainly a 
young gentleman of great promise. With the 
elder Mr. Binney I had much conversation, and 
as he has lately returned from a European tour, 



1 88 Hetter* of #. ML Strong 

he told me much about the Courts and present 
Judges in England. In the course of the day, I had 
learned from Mr. Bidwell that Mr. Williams, the 
writer of the Greek epitaph, was one of the present 
justices of the Queens Bench, that he was one of 
the Counsel of Queen Caroline, on her trial, and 
highly distinguished himself on that occasion, 
being associated with Brougham and Denman, 
the present Chief Justice of the Queens Bench. I 
took occasion to inquire of Mr. Binney respecting 
him, who spoke of him in the highest terms, and 
says he holds a high rank among the present twelve 
judges of England, but he mentioned as a remark- 
able fact that C. J. Denman holds a very low rank. 



Letter of June 17, 1839. 

I believe I have never told you how I get along 
with the duties of a Commissioner of the Public 
Schools in this City. I have now visited nearly 
every one of these schools on this Island, and I 
must say that I have been gratified in the highest 
degree There are upwards of 11,000 scholars, 
and the sum distributed this year is upwards of 
$120,000. The system of instruction, and the 
discipline of the scholars, are admirable. . . . 
The examination of this Institution for the Blind 



Hettera of <©. W, Strong 189 

is alone well worth a journey of a hundred miles. 
On the whole, I am delighted with this office, the 
sole compensation for which is the hack hire and 
refreshments of the Commissioners. 



New York, June 22nd, 1839. 

My Dear Sir: 

... I have read Mr. Verplanck's speech with 
great attention, and I readily admit that it is a 
great production, exhibiting very expansive powers 
of mind, deep thinking, great learning and talents. 
But I cannot agree with him He is avowedly a 
reformer, though he says only upon a moderate 
scale, but far too much so for my views. The spirit 
of reformation is rife in this country as well as 
elsewhere. It pervades everything, both in church 
and state. . . . The great desideratum in regard 
to the law is that, when a question arises, the party 
interested should have it in his power, by consult- 
ing a lawyer, to ascertain with certainty his rights 
and liabilities. This is impossible where the laws 
are perpetually changing, for this very obvious 
reason, a law is a general rule, without attempting, 
(which would be utterly in vain) , to provide for the 
infinite variety of cases arising under it. This is 
the exclusive province of Courts of justice. It is 
therefore only when the law has stood a long time. 



190 Hetter* of #. W. Strong 

and the Courts have given many successive deci- 
sions under it, that its provisions are defined and 
settled so as to be a guide for future cases. I dare 
say you do not appreciate the force of this, and 
none but a practicing lawyer can do it. This 
maxim is wholly lost sight of. The laws as they 
now exist are well enough, if we would only abide 
by them, and stick to them. But we want efficient 
and learned Judges. We have also by far too 
many lawyers. Every lawyer must have business, 
and for the sake of getting it, he will improperly 
encourage litigation. This is altogether the fault 
of the Courts, in not being more rigid in licensing 
lawyers, and in punishing them for misconduct. 
We multiply our Judges in order to dispatch busi- 
ness, but this, singular as it may appear, is a great 
mistake. The more Judges there are, the more 
justice is delayed and the greater the expenses, be- 
cause the system facilitates appeals from one Court 
to another. Most of our important causes are now 
carried to the Court of Errors. But if we had 
Judges who would command the public confidence, 
this evil would be prevented. You have no idea of 
the difference between the present system (intro- 
duced by the new Constitution in 1822) and the one 
that preceded it. It seems to be admitted on all 
hands that the present plan will not answer, and 



ILttttvti of <§. ML Strong 191 

our legislators are now, from session to session, 
engaged in devising a new one. My plan is to go 
back to the former system. But this course will 
certainly not be adopted. I have no doubt a 
thoroughly [new] plan will be adopted, and prob- 
ably far worse than the present. We entirely over- 
look the all-important fact, that law is one of the 
most delicate machines that ever was devised. It 
cannot be touched without the most eminent 
hazard of injuring if not destroying it. I very 
often think of what Pope says on this subject, 
which is somewhat in these words: 

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow, 
No doubt our wiser sons will think us so. 

I have carefully preserved the newspapers con- 
taining Mr. Verplanck's speech, and will return 
them to you when I have an opportunity. 
My love to Phoebe. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



Letter of September 24, 1839. 

That your proposition will be most readily ac- 
ceded to, I entertain no doubt whatever. But, let 



192 Eettera of <©. M. strong 

me here give you a caution, once for all, which may- 
be of service to you in case I should be no more, 
and that is, never to enter into any arrangement 
with the principal debtor for the extension of a 
debt, without the previous knowledge and consent 
of the surety, manifested by writing, for the mo- 
ment you do so you discharge the surety. I of 
course mean such an extension as debars the creditor 
in the meantime of his right to sue for the debt. If, 
after what I have said, you think it best to extend 
the loan by positive agreement, (for simply letting 
matters rest as they are, without any such agree- 
ment, can have no injurious effect), you had per- 
haps better let me attend to it for you. 



Letter of January 2, 1840. 

I do not like at all the symptoms described in 
your letter, and I will take it as a particular favor 
if, on the receipt of this, you will write me, saying 
how you are. . . . The weather was almost 
as cold yesterday, and I found it very uncomfort- 
able in making the usual calls. I made 38, and was 
heartily glad when I was through, as they extended 
from the Battery to 14th Street. Among others, I 
saw your daughter, who appeared to enjoy herself 
very much. 



Hettera of #. ML Strong 193 

Letter of January 9, 1840. 

I now enclose you your Will, which I have en- 
deavored to draw in strict conformity with your 
instructions. You will, of course, read and exam- 
ine it very attentively and critically, and, if you 
find it entirely correct, you will then put a seal to 
it, and execute it in the presence of two disinter- 
ested witnesses, who will be careful to notice that 
what is stated in the attestation clause is strictly 
complied with. I have intentionally omitted to 
put a seal to it, presuming that you would prefer 
wax, with the impress of your seal containing your 
family armorial. If incorrect in any respect, I 
beg you not to execute it till it is made in every 
respect conformable to your wishes. 



Letter of January 16, 1840. 

I write you in consequence of the awful calamity 

off your Coast on Monday night last, of which you 

have doubtless heard. I make no apology for this, 

as I know that no person can be more willing or 

disposed than yourself to do all that a regard to the 

surviving friends and relatives may require. I 

write more particularly in reference to Charles W. 

Woolsey and a Mr. Henry, who were passengers 
13 



194 ILetterg of &. ML Strong 

and doubtless perished. . . . The question may 
naturally arise, what is to be done with regard to 
any bodies which may be driven ashore. It occurs 
to me that the following would be proper. The 
Coroner should be called to hold an inquest over 
the body, but it is not necessary, humane or right, 
(notwithstanding the vulgar prejudice to the con- 
trary), that the body should remain in the place in 
which it is found till the Coroner has held the in- 
quest. Let it be carefully removed to some neigh- 
boring house. The Coroner will examine the 
papers, if any, found with the body, and ascertain, 
if practicable, the name and residence of the de- 
ceased. If the residence be distant, probably a 
temporary interment should be made, and informa- 
tion communicated forthwith to the place of resi- 
dence. If in this city, the interment had better 
be deferred till information can be sent here. 



Letter without Date. 

Mrs. Hamilton was in my office yesterday, and 
mentioned a very interesting fact, the truth of 
which I cannot doubt, viz : that her husband wrote 
the whole of General Washington's Farewell ad- 
dress. She says her husband read it to her in 
manuscript before it was submitted to Washing- 



Hettera of <§. W. Strong 195 

ton, that he returned it to Hamilton, desiring some 
slight alterations, which the latter made, that she 
read Washington's letter returning the Address 
and desiring the alterations, and that she has no 
doubt she now has the letter in her possession, and 
can find it if necessary. She also says that her 
husband wrote the greater part of General Wash- 
ington's communications to Congress. I would 
thank you not to mention these matters, at least 
not in connection with her name, for although no 
secrecy was enjoined, yet she might not like to be 
quoted for the truth of them. 



Letter of August 26, 1840. 

A few days ago, I met Chancellor Kent in the 
street, and put to him the question which you de- 
sired. He said the fact was so, and that General 
Hamilton made on that occasion the greatest effort 
he ever witnessed in his life. He stated that he 
attended the Convention every day during its 
session. I remarked to him he must then have been 
quite a boy. To which he said, no, and that he was 
then 25 years old. When I afterwards reflected 
on this subject, I found he was correct as to his 
age. He was constitutionally superannuated and 
left office in 1823. He was therefore born in 1763, 



196 Hetter* of <©. W. Strong 

which made him 25 in 1788. I have not yet seen 
Mrs. Hamilton personally. Whenever I do so, I 
shall have your request in remembrance. 

Note: The preceding refers to the New York Convention of 
1788, in which Hamilton won over the Convention to ratifying 
the proposed U. S. Constitution. 



New York, 23rd September, 1840. 

My Dear Sir: 

I duly received your letter of the nth inst. I 
must be allowed to apologise to you for my appar- 
ent neglect, and confess that I am not fit to carry 
on a correspondence of friendship. My business 
letters I always answer forthwith, with them before 
me. As I write you periodically, or intend to do so, 
the contents of your last often escape my memory. 
... I also neglected to answer your inquiries 
respecting my recollections of General Hamilton. 
I came to this City in November and he died the 
July following. I never spoke to him but once, and 
that was while he was in Court, when, at the re- 
quest of Judge Benson, I asked him for some 
papers. I never heard him speak but once, when 
he defended a person in the Sessions who had been 
indicted for perjury. Daniel D. Tompkins was 
then the District Attorney, and made a very in- 
different speech compared with Hamilton, who 



Hetter* of <©. SB. Strong 197 

made a very splendid one, and I well recollect that, 
as soon as he was through, he left the Court, with- 
out waiting to hear Tompkins' reply. I have long 
been acquainted with the misunderstanding be- 
tween Generals Washington and Hamilton, and I 
presume I have read the letter to which you refer, 
in the life of Hamilton by his son. I have also 
heard Mrs. Hamilton speak of it. It occurred at 
Newburgh, shortly after Hamilton's marriage. 
I never before understood that General Washing- 
ton was to blame in this matter. He had directed 
Hamilton to do something, which the latter 
thought proper to defer until he had done some- 
thing else, for which General Washington took 
him to task, and which Hamilton resented. At 
least such is my impression in regard to it. I have 
been in the room in which this took place. 

I frequently see Hamilton's writing among law 
papers. He wrote a beautiful hand, having been 
brought up in a merchant's counting room. I have 
had in my possession for the last two years Peter 
Remsen's title papers, which I returned about a 
month ago, and among them, I recollect, was a 
deduction of title made out in Hamilton's hand- 
writing. This paper is now of no value, and if you 
wish it, I presume I can without difficulty procure 
it for you. ... I am very glad to hear through 



198 Hetters of <©♦ W. Strong 

Mr. Gould that you went to Patchogue to hear 
Mr. Webster. To be candid with you, I had seri- 
ous thoughts of writing you a letter urging you to 
go, and was deterred from it by the apprehension 
that, owing to your fondness for home, it would be 
of no use. I hope you got a place where you could 
hear him distinctly. If you did, I will venture the 
prediction that you were so delighted with him as 
to induce you to go to Jamaica tomorrow to hear 
him again. I should like very much to learn what 
you think of Webster's speech. I anticipate that 
you will be in raptures with it. Having heard him, 
you may safely say that you have heard one of the 
first, (if not the very first), public speakers in this 
or any other country. . . . What think you of 
Van Buren's prospects now? I think the chances 
are against him. But he is decidedly the first 
partisan in this country, and I still fear that he 
will yet successfully rally his forces. I do not 
enter very heartily into this controversy. I am 
disgusted with the course pursued by the Whigs in 
courting popular favor, that is, in imitating pre- 
cisely, though it would seem at present more suc- 
cessfully, the policy of their opponents. A Loco 
Foco not long since told me that the Whigs had 
stolen their thunder, and I think the remark was 
perfectly correct. The present course of both par- 



Hettera of <©. ML Strong 199 

ties I consider as very unpropitious to the perpetu- 
ity of our Republican form of government. What 
think you of the propriety of the grave Senators of 
the United States turning stump orators, and in 
that character perambulating the whole country? 
Do you think that such an anticipation ever en- 
tered the minds of the framers of the Constitution, 
in defining their qualifications? I think not, and 
in this respect both parties are equally culpable. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 

JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note : The last part of this letter refers to General Harrison's 
"hard cider" campaign, celebrated for Tippicanoe, the log cabin, 
and the Rolling Ball. 



Letter of Dec. 10, 1840. 

Dr. McVickar of Columbia College says that the 
last election is the greatest event that has ever hap- 
pened in this country, since the adoption of the 
Federal Constitution, and he assigns this reason for 
it, viz., that it has been maintained that the 
Radicalism of Europe and the Democracy of this 
country were identical, but that the late election 
has proved that there is a wide difference between 
the two, and although it may be considered as 
certain that the Radicalism of Europe will eventu- 



200 Hettera of <©• i!L Strong 

ally lead to the overthrow of the existing govern- 
ments there, yet that better hopes may be indulged 
of the democracy here. I wish I could believe in 
the soundness of his conclusion. It appears to me 
that the election of Harrison is to be attributed 
more to log cabins, hard cider, and his reputation 
and popularity as a soldier, coupled with the odium 
arising from the bad policy of the present adminis- 
tration, than to the good sense and sound discern- 
ment of the people. I think something of the same 
popular character must attach to every future 
successful candidate for the presidency, and that, 
therefore, the chance for either Webster or Clay is 
very remote. General Scott, I should think, would 
be the most eligible candidate which the Whigs 
could bring forward, although, in point of real 
qualifications, he is not to be compared with either 
of the two just mentioned. Surely nothing made 
Jackson president but the battle of New Orleans. 
Harrison has succeeded pretty much in the same 
way, and Scott has been very successful in his 
military operations. 



New York, 31^ Dec?, 1840. 

My Dear Sir: 

I am in receipt of your letter of the 21 s * inst., 
and I had promised myself the pleasure of seeing 



Hettera of #. M. Strong 201 

you here before this time. But I understand that 
you were prevented from coming by the lamented 
death of your friend, Cap* Sands. I am gratified 
to learn that the dressing case reached you in safety 
and good order, and that you are pleased with it. 
It is not of much rea. value, but as a memento it is, 
with proper care, calculated to be as enduring as 
any article which I could think of. 

Since I last wrote you, Mrs. Hamilton has been 
repeatedly at my office. The first time she came 
she said to me : "The gentleman for whom I gave 
you those autographs has written me a letter, and 
it is the most beautiful letter I ever saw in my life. 
I was highly gratified by it." I give you her very 
words, according to my best recollection, for they 
ought to be very acceptable to you, especially if 
you consider that she is a very competent judge, 
that she has seen in the course of her long life as 
many well written letters as almost any other 
person living, and that she would not, for any con- 
sideration, say what she did not conscientiously 
believe. I have since repeatedly perused the copy 
of it which you sent me, and you will allow me to 
say, in perfect sincerity, that it was a very happy 
effort, even for your classical pen, and that it 
evinces consummate judgment, taste and tact. 
The old lady says she has been here long enough, 



202 Hettera of <©♦ ®H. strong 

and that it is high time for her to put everything 
in order for her departure hence. I have accord- 
ingly lately re-written over her Will for the third 
time, and as on both of the previous occasions she 
paid me much more than I charged, I told her that, 
on this, she must permit me to have my own way, 
and do the service without any compensation. 
But she determined not to be outdone in this re- 
spect, and has submitted to me various manu- 
scripts in the handwriting of her husband. The 
first is a letter addressed by him to Col. Laurens, 
then in France, giving a very particular account 
of the treason of Arnold, the capture, trial and 
execution of Andre, and of various personal inter- 
views with him prior to his execution. This is a 
most interesting letter, and I presume has never 
been published. It is very long and minute, 
covering 17 pages. I ventured to get Mary to 
make a copy of it. The second is a eulogy pro- 
nounced by General Hamilton before the Society 
of Cincinnati on the character and services of 
General Greene, and which I understand has never 
been published. This is a beautiful specimen of 
eloquence, though I think not as much so as the 
letter to Col. Laurens. The third was a letter 
written by Hamilton while in St. Croix, in 1769, 
when he was 1 1 years old. In this letter he com- 



better* of <£. 8H. strong 203 

plains of the drudgery of a merchant's counting 
room, and says that nothing but his poverty com- 
pels him to submit to it, that he aimed at some- 
thing far higher, and expressed a firm determina- 
tion to obtain it, but that he never would sacrifice 
character, which he considered as paramount to 
every other consideration, and he concludes his 
letter by saying : ' ' Now, Neddy, you may consider 
this as building castles in the air, but such is my 
deliberate purpose." I should say that this letter, 
considering his extreme youth, is the most inter- 
esting production which I ever saw from the pen 
of Hamilton, for it shows that even then the plan 
of his future life was formed, and how thoroughly 
he executed it you need not be told. The fourth 
was a letter written three years afterwards, in 1772, 
when he was 14 years old, and is addressed to Mr. 
Cruger, in whose counting room he then was. 
Cruger was then absent from the West Indies and 
had left young Hamilton in charge of his mercantile 
establishment. The letter gave an account of his 
operations, and subjoined to it is a copy of a letter 
of instructions given by him to one of Cruger's 
captains, then about to sail on a voyage. Probably 
better or more perfect mercantile letters could not 
be penned by any merchant of the present day in 
this city. The two last letters Mrs. Hamilton ex- 



204 Hettera of #♦ M. strong 

pressed a desire to take away with her, and I had 
only an opportunity to peruse them once. The 
other two papers she left with me, and I read them 
repeatedly and very attentively before returning 
them. I detained them one day longer than I in- 
tended, in the hope that I should see you, and sub- 
mit them to your perusal, as I am sure you would 
be much delighted and interested. It seems that 
all General Hamilton's manuscripts are to be 
placed in the hands of Dr. Hawkes for publication, 
and that the public will have an opportunity to 
peruse them. I have been somewhat particular on 
this subject, supposing it would be gratifying to 
you. . . . 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, January 26, 1841. 

My Dear Sir: 

I have lately been credibly informed that Chan- 
cellor Kent has stated that last summer Mr. 
Webster dined with him at his country residence in 
New Jersey; that he eat too much and drank too 
much; that he drank an enormous quantity of 
wine, and afterwards drank nearly a tumblerfull 



ILttttv* of <©. M. strong 205 

of raw brandy. It is added that the Chancellor, 
in telling the story, burst into tears. A day or two 
since, I happened in company with him, and wished 
to ascertain whether the story was true, but 
deemed it improper to make any direct allusion to 
it. I, however, spoke of the reports unfavorable to 
Mr. Webster's habits, when the Chancellor said 
to me: "He eats and drinks altogether too much. 
His favorite drink is brandy and water, which he 
makes very strong. His constitution is ruined, 
although it was originally an iron one. He has 
been very sick, and I expect daily to hear that 
he has had a stroke of apoplexy or paralysis." I 
therefore conclude that the reports of Mr. Web- 
ster's habits are too well founded, and that his 
earthly career is nearly finished. I did not infer 
from what the Chancellor said that he was now 
particularly ill, but that the general state of his 
health was very bad. . . . 

My son George attains his majority this day. 
On the whole, his conduct in my office has been 
very satisfactory, and he has proved by far the 
most useful clerk I ever had. Doubtless this is 
attributable, in a great measure, to his being in his 
father's office, and that more would be expected 
of him on that account. Should no misfortune 
befall him, he bids fair to make a useful member of 



206 ILtittxs of <©. M. Strong 

society. He will be entitled to his license in July- 
next. He has always evinced a great passion for 
music, which I am sure he never obtained from 
me. He has never taken a lesson in his life, and yet 
his performances on the organ and piano are very 
creditable. His mother, who has taken great pains 
to instil in him a fondness for music, has lately 
presented him with an organ which cost $1250. It 
is a most splendid piece of furniture, and affords 
him much amusement. Music is a very innocent 
recreation, and I do not object that he should be 
gratified in this respect. I have with me now nine 
students, and I shall be much disappointed if some 
of them do not make highly respectable men. I 
take great pains with them, and give them regular 
examinations twice a week. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 



New York, 2nd February, J841. 

My Dear Sir: 

. . . As I do not like to be instrumental in 
slandering any person, I think it proper to state to 
you that I have this morning had a conversation 
with David B. Ogden, relative to Mr. Webster's 



Hetter* of <£. ®HL Strong 207 

habits, and he assures me that the reports which 
are so rife on this subject are entirely destitute of 
truth. He says Webster drinks wine, but not to 
excess. That in the course of his life he has been 
present on three or four occasions when he thought 
Webster drank more wine than a gentleman ought 
to drink. That when he was here last summer he 
was laboring under a bowel complaint, and was 
advised to drink brandy with sugar as a remedy. 
He says Chancellor Kent is entirely mistaken in 
what he freely and publicly states on this subject- 
Mr. Ogden has been very intimate with Webster 
for a long time, and has just returned from Wash- 
ington. . . . The great failing of Chancellor 
Kent is that he is by far too free in speaking out 
whatever he feels, or believes, without any regard 
to the consequences. I give you Mr. Ogden's 
statement as an offset against Chancellor Kent's, 
and you can give such credence to either as you 
may think proper. Perhaps, however, the most 
prudent course is to say nothing on the subject, and 
that I have already said too much. But with you 
I know it is safe. I notice what you said in one 
of your letters, (some days ago), respecting Dr. 
Hawkes, and I entirely coincide with you in opin- 
ion. It seems that Mrs. Hamilton's children have 
found out that she has left the publication of the 



208 Hetter* of <£♦ W. strong 

General's papers to him, and are very much dis- 
satisfied with it. . . . 

The old lady has insisted on presenting me with 
a ring containing a lock of the General's hair, which 
I value very highly, as well on her as his account. 
I tell her I never wore a ring, but she says I can 
attach it to the seal and key of my watch, and 
wear it in that way. 

Yours very truly, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
JOHN N. LLOYD, ESQ. 

Note: Mr. Strong wore the ring, just mentioned, upon his 
watch-chain during the remainder of his life, with his seal and 
key, and, according to his daughter, Miss Mary A. Strong, he 
used to twirl them about playfully, when he was seated and in 
conversation, and in a mood to interrogate his interlocutor. His 
gold watch and its ring and seal are still carefully kept by his 
descendants, the seal by Mr. Strong's great-grandson, Hasket 
Derby, Esq., a lawyer in practice in San Francisco, and the two 
others by the Editor of these letters. 



ILttttx* of jfflr. Strong's; 3Uto-g>tubent JSapa 



U 209 



letters in Hato=g>tubent 3Bap£ 

MRS. SELAH STRONG TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

November 29. 

My dear George: 

I received your letter and was glad to hear you 
was all well, and so well suited with your Lawyer 
and with your board, and thank you a thousand 
times for your information you have given me. 
Nothing could [have] given me more joy in this 
world than that. I shall keep it a secret to my self. 

M Ruggles died last Saturday, and young 
Smith the same day, M r . [Monnet's?] clerk, and 
last week M T . Green had a brother drowned, and 
James Kennen, a-crossing from New Haven to 
come here to see his brother. 

In great haste; we are all well. Write as often 
as you can. My love to you all. 

From your loving Mama, 

A. STRONG. 

Conklin has returned to stay at home. 
211 



212 Hetter* in Hato=g>tutient Baps; 

GEORGE W. STRONG TO MRS. SELAH STRONG 

New York, March 25th, 1805. 

Hon 1 ? Madam : 

By Capt Hart I received your Letter, with six 
shirts and a pair of stockings, for which please to 
accept my best thanks. 

I am very sorry to learn that you think it 
would give me any trouble to come and bring 
you down here in a Chair. I assure you I shall 
be very happy to come up after you, for we are 
all very desirous to see you here. The time 
when you will come is perfectly immaterial to 
me, and I would have you consult your own 
convenience. We, however, think that you had 
better come before May, for then it will be 
all confusion at Benjamin's. We also expect 
that this time you will make us a good, long 
visit. We have therefore thought that it would 
be most agreeable for me to set out after you 
this day fortnight, (which will be April 8^). But 
if any other time will suit you better, you will 
please to name it, for it will be equally convenient 
to me. By the 10^ of April we shall expect Joseph 
home, and if you put off your visit until he gets 
settled, it will be not before June, when it will be 
so warm as to render the travelling quite uncom- 
fortable. I will come up after you in Benjamin's 



1Lttttv& m 3Uto=g>tubent Jiapa 213 

Chair, which will be very easy for you to ride 
down in. You need not give yourself any un- 
easiness about getting home again, for I shall 
be very happy to carry you back by land. When 
Cap 1 . Hart returns, I wish you to mention the 
time when I shall come, and which, you will 
remember, is perfectly immaterial to me. I hope 
you will rest perfectly easy as to any trouble 
which you may think it will give me to come 
after you. 

Margaret is very smart, and will be about house 
again before the time appointed for your coming. 
The little Daughter, (called Eliza Margaritta) , 
does very well, and is not very cross. My best 
respects to Papa and the family, and believe me to 
be, 

Hon4 Madam, 
Your dutiful & much obliged Son, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 
MRS. ANNA STRONG. 



Note: The Margaret mentioned is probably Mr. Strong's 
sister, who married Joseph Strong, a cousin, a lawyer in New 
York. It is very likely that Mr. G. W. Strong was then living 
with them in town. Compare with this letter the next preceding 
letter, also Benjamin Strong's letter dated Sept. 4, 1808, and 
Joseph Strong's letter of Oct. 14, 1805. For this Joseph Strong, 
who is not the brother of G. W. Strong, for Margaret Strong, and 
for Eliza Margaritta, who died in infancy, see Dwight's History 
of the Strong Family, vol. 1, pp. 620, 625, 671. 



214 Hetterg in Hato=g>tufcent ©ap* 

BENJAMIN STRONG TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

New York, 24th Aug*, 1805. 
Saturday morning. 

Dear George: 

I yesterday afternoon received a very friendly 
visit from our old and Reverend friend, Doctf 
Rodgers, and what do you think was the object of 
it ? It was nothing more or less than to endeavour 
to prevail on you to change your studies from the 
law to Divinity. He instances a great number of 
Clergymen who have changed even after they have 
been licensed, among them your friend Stewart. 
The old Gentleman appears very solicitous for the 
change, and I have promised him you shall call on 
him on the subject as soon as you return. It will 
therefore be well for you to reflect seriously on the 
subject, and make up your mind fully before you 
return. The old Gentleman says Lawyers now ride 
three on a Horse, and that the Church is very 
destitute of Ministers. 

M r . Griswold and myself go tomorrow to Eliza- 
beth Town to hear Selah S. Woodhull preach. I 
have a very pressing invitation from Doctf Rod- 
gers to Selah to get him to come over and preach 
for him on Friday evening, the 6^ September. 

I send a bundle of newspapers for you and 
Joseph, and the Museum for Sally. Give my love 



Utttttti in Hato=g>tubent ©ap* 215 

to her, and tell her she must return more cheerful 
than she went away. 

Give my love to the family, and all friends, and 
am, dear George, 

Your affectionate brother, 

BEN J. STRONG. 
MR. GEORGE W. STRONG. 

Note: This letter, like the following, is addressed to Mr. 
Strong at Setauket. Sally may have been either Benjamin's wife, 
Sarah Weeks Strong, or, more probably, his daughter, Sarah, 
aged 13. Mr. Griswold was doubtless his niece, Elizabeth Wood- 
hull's, husband, George Griswold. 



JOSEPH STRONG TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

New York, Oct. 14, 1805. 

D. George: 

Another nonsensical letter is at your service, 
tho from the fatigue of the morning I can hardly 
hold my pen to write it. Well then, to fulfil prom- 
ises is good. I started as proposed for Goshen, I 
arrived safe, found friends generally pretty well 
that I intended to visit there. I hastened to per- 
form the Hunt I told you of, and the chase was a 

successful one. Never before did I see look half 

so well; all was health, gaiety and friendship. I 
think we met as friends ought to meet, and were both 
equally glad to see each other. As far as related 
to the interest felt for absent friends, I could only 



216 Hetter* in Uato=g>tubent Jiap* 

judge of this, you well know, from circumstances, 
and these spoke a favourable language. Some 
fear was expressed, (and with an honest innocence 
that seemed to despise reserve), that she should 
have to receive a Lecture from you for not having 
complied with your wishes, tho against her then 
pleasures, for Goshen perhaps never was more gay 
and lively than at this time, and therefore probably 
led her to forget something. 

1 8 th Oct?. I was interrupted and prevented 
finishing the aforegoing at the date thereof, and 
kept from it hitherto by some business and a little 
journey to Westchester — was down to Greenwich 
yesterday and Ferris went to Partition street. 
The reports are now pretty favourable; indeed, if 
this weather is continued, I hope we may get home 
soon. I am in doubt whether to come down the 
Island for Marg*. and children, or to trust them to 
your care to return home last of next week, or the 
week after, as you rind the weather to be; if cold, 
and particularly if frosty, shall be glad to see you 
soon. I shall have the house opened and weir aired 
next week, and fires made there. . . . 

I am yrs &c. 

JOS. STRONG. 

Note: This letter is addressed, "at Judge Strong's, Setauket, 
Brookhaven, Suffolk Co., N. Y.," and is probably written, not by 



lUttera in 1Uto=g>tubent ©apa 217 

Mr. Strong's brother, Joseph, but by his second cousin, Joseph 
Strong of New York City, who, as already mentioned, had mar- 
ried, in 1792, Mr. Strong's sister, Margaret Strong. The preval- 
ence of fever in the City is described in another part of this letter, 
which accounts for Mr. Strong's absence at Setauket. Partition 
Street extended from Broadway to the North River, by St. Paul's 
Church, and was soon afterwards called Fulton Street. It is 
perhaps worth the suggestion that as Angelina Lloyd was born on 
Sept. 12, 1785, her age was then such as to correspond with the 
young lady mentioned in this letter. 



GEORGE BLOOM TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Poughkeepsie, Feb. 27, '04. 

Dear George: 

I have been on a journey to the Northward 
about three weeks, which will sufficiently apologize 
for not writing you previous to this time. Your 
last I have received, and am much pleased with its 
contents, except one circumstance which hints a 
fear of Tappan's apostacy. I have heard no such 
reports. I charitably hope the report is not true. 
I will endeavour to learn its truth or falsity. 

I shall not be the next one of our Class who is so 
foolish as to get married. Three years first. Do, 
for goodness' sake, tell me whom you was fond of 
in New Haven. You are an excellent hand to keep 
your own secrets. 

Oakley is lazy, I believe, but I suppose he will 
make a "Lawyer" and not a "pettifogger," 
barely. 



218 ILttttvz in Hato-g>tubent ©apa 

Having dispatched your queries, or rather briefly 
answered your interrogatories, I now will give you, 
in the first place, some account of the "news of the 
day." Burr is the universal, I mean the general, 
cry. On my way from Albany, last week, I made 
it my enquiry how the people were disposed to- 
wards Burr. In all places, I found he has an 
incredibly large number of political friends, in 
and about Poughkeepsie, and indeed throughout 
Dutchess County. If a few Federalists join, I am 
inclined to believe he will have a majority. Lewis, 
say great numbers, is a Livingston, and united to 
them by all the ties of nature and interest; that 
the destruction of the "Merchants Bank," and 
the erection of another on its ruins, (which 
from all accounts will clearly be the fact), is 
a piece of aristocracy and political depravity 
rarely to be found in the History of man; that 
the Clintons and Livingstons have exceeded all 
calculation in the enormity and flagrancy of 
their conduct. I am thus prolix, merely to give 
you what appears to be the honest sentiment of 
old Republicans. DeWitt Clinton was here this 
morning. He brings at once to my mind the 
celebrated Robespierre. His mouth-piece, Cap* 
. . . has certainly not been conclusive in his 
Reply. 



TLttttxti in ICato=g>tubettt ©aptf 219 

But, Politics aside, what is the state of religion 
in your heart? I confess, with shame, that I have 
to fear a loss of some part of the small stock which 
I hoped to possess when I left College. I am too 
frequently carried away with the love of the world, 
the hurries of business, and the critical juncture of 
political affairs. When I am alone and commune 
with my heart, it gives me pain and remorse of 
conscience to find myself, at least, stationary. 
I have been alone, truly alone, in this place, till 
now on my return I find William M. Smith, 
John's son, who, I hope, will be some company 
in my travels Zionward. He studies here till 
I s ? May. I hear, this day, that Holley has re- 
linquished the study of law, and commenced 
the more important study of Divinity. Is it 
true? What are his reasons? How long since 
he left you ? Where is Woodhull ? Is he to make 
a man? 

If you hear from any of the Class, communicate 
it. I never scarcely hear. What were the last 
appointments, and who? 

Your friend, in haste, 

GEORGE BLOOM. 



Note: George Bloom was Mr. Strong's room-mate at Yale. 
Oakley is Thomas Jackson Oakley, afterwards the distinguished 
Chief Justice of the Superior Court of New York City. Lewis is 



220 Hetter* in Hato=g>tubent Baps 



Morgan Lewis, then Governor of New York who had married 
Miss Gertrude Livingston, sister of Chancellor Robert R. Living- 
ston. General Hamilton's fatal duel with Colonel Burr, which 
substantially terminated the political life of the latter, occurred 
on July ii, 1804. 



SELAH STRONG WOODHULL TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Monmouth Court House, N. J. 
April I7 t . h 1804. 

My dear friend : 

I shall seize every leisure moment through this 
week to answer your letter of the 10^, received 
per the last Mail. In this week I must complete 
my preparations for Presbytery, and of course, you 
may expect, can have little time to spare; the little 
I have shall be first devoted to you and after you 
to other correspondents. Want of time will pre- 
vent my entering at all on our moral topics. . . . 
19^. Yesterday I was from morning untill in the 
night absent on business which I could not avoid, 
although unpleasing ; I seize a few leisure moments 
today to continue my letter. On Monday I start 
for Presbytery, who will probably dismiss me by 
the 27 1 ?. ... I am much pleased that you 
appear disposed to accompany me down the Island ; 
I had intended to propose it to you. My stay there 
must be short, not more than a week at farthest; 



betters; in 1Uto=g>tubetTt ©apg 221 

neither will I be able to remain long in N. Y. I am 
compelled, (almost), to defer the time of going 
there, and the necessity is not less that I be here 
early in June. It would be very pleasing to me 
to be in your society a longer time; I am sorry 
it is not in my view, on the whole, in the line of 
conduct most w se and prudent ; should I find it 
in my power, I shall stay with pleasure. I 
leave it to you to make the necessary arrange- 
ments as to the time when, and the way in 
which, we go down the Island, yet I suppose 
there will be time sufficient after I come to N. Y. 
I think you may calculate to see me the 15^; I 
shall endeavour to inform you if I am obliged to 
use another time. 

21 s ?. Last night my preparations for trial 
closed, and I am now ready. I shall propose for 
examination on Moral and Natural Philosophy, 
Belles Lettres, Grammar, Astronomy and the 
whole course of Ecclesiastical History, and I have 
to read an Exegesis in Latin on the Question: "An 
fides, foederis gratia, conditio sit." . . . 

This letter I expect to take with me to New 
Brunswick on Monday, should not the storm, 
(which is now at hand), prevent my starting. . . 
The wind is violent at N E. and a storm appears 
about commencing; a gloomy prospect for my 



222 Hetterg in 3Uto»g>tubent JBap* 

jaunt, but I hope yet to be able to go on 
Monday. 

Remember me to all friends. 

I am affectionately, 

SELAH S. WOODHULL. 
M* GEO. W. STRONG, 

N? 92 Nassau St., 
New York. 

Note : The Revd. Selah Strong Woodhull, D.D. , (1 786- 1 826) , 
was Mr. Strong's nephew, the son of Keturah, Mr. Strong's eldest 
sister. The two young men, as they were of not far from the 
same age, were in College together. 



miscellaneous Hetters 



223 



JffliaceUaneou* letters 

JUDGE SELAH STRONG TO GEORGE WASHINGTON 
STRONG 

Brookhaven, 6 of April, 1809. 

Dear George : 

The land that I proposed to buy for you went 
for more than I thought proper to give for it. I feel 
so anxious for the success of the insuing Election 
that I am not willing a single vote should be lost 
that can possibly be obtained. Therefore, to en- 
able you to give your vote, you will Receive in this 
a Deed for a piece of land that I paid one hundred 
pounds for some years past, and there can be no 
doubt but would sell for more at present. There- 
fore you need not hesitate in taking the oath if 
Required. It appears by the proceedings at our 
Town meeting that there is all the Exertions mak- 
ing against the Federals that is possible. The 
rabble was so great, and the assistance of a few 
leaders, that all the Trustees and Supervisor and 
Assessors were chosen Democrats, tho it was fully 
believed that the Federal party present was the 
is 225 



226 ifWtecellaneoua Hetter* 

most numerous, and could have defeated the 
others could they have been prevailed on to come 
forward amongst the Rabble. This will not dis- 
courage our party in coming forward to make 
Every Exertion in our power at the insuing Elec- 
tion. I desire you will ask Joseph to send me a 
peck of peas, to sow the first opportunity, as it is 
time I had them. I am, 

Your affectionate father, 

SELAH STRONG. 



THE SAME 

Brooke aven, 29 of August, 18 14. 

Dear George : 

News reached us yesterday that the British has 
taken Washington City. If this be true, I shall 
almost be ashamed to be called an American, as 
we have been almost three years imployed in tak- 
ing Canada, and have not gained a foot, and Great 
Britain, 3000 miles distant, has drove our King 
from his palace and taken his Capital. O, shame, 
shame to our Administration ! 

The [vacation?] in the school at Fairfield takes 
place on Friday next. I have directed William to 
take the stage and come to New York. I conclude 
he will be there on Saturday. He says that he fears 



JWtecellaneoug Hettertf 227 

he cannot find your house. I wish you to send to 
the stage office about the time that the stage ar- 
rives, and if you can find him, take him home, and 
the first opportunity send him here by water. I 
expect Joseph here on Saturday next, when I hope 
he will bring us some agreeable news. My best 
love to Angelina and the children. I am, 

Your affectionate father, 

SELAH STRONG. 



GEORGE W. STRONG TO MRS. SELAH STRONG 

New York, 13** April, 1812. 

My dear Mother : 

My dear Eloise has been very sick indeed, but 
we hope she is now materially better. On Sunday, 
the 5^ Instant, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 
she began to breathe very strangely. Angelina 
and I were both with her, but we did not know 
what was the matter with her. We bathed her 
feet and legs in warm water, and gave her a por- 
tion of Physic, and she appeared to get better, but 
in the evening Angelina grew uneasy about her, 
and I went after D' Borrowe. Df Borrowe came 
about 11 o'clock, and was considerably alarmed. 
He staid with her while near 1 . Next morning she 
was worse, and I went again after the Doctor very 



228 JfflteceUaneou* Hetter* 

early. He came and found her very ill indeed. 
He immediately proceeded to apply very violent 
remedies. He bled her, and took from her nearly 
a gill, and blistered her, and in the course of the 
day gave her 8 portions of Physic before it oper- 
ated. She had a most raging fever, and breathed 
with the utmost difficulty. He visited her four 
times in the course of the day, and staid with her 
all night. On Tuesday she still continued very 
low. On Wednesday morning she began to get 
better, but in the afternoon she was taken the 
third time, as bad as ever. On Thursday morning 
she was so low that we called in D r . Post as a con- 
sulting Physician. On Saturday, being the 7 th 
day, her disorder appeared to turn, and she has 
since been doing very well. 

DT Borrowe has been remarkably kind to us. 
He staid with us all night from Tuesday night till 
last night. He met D r . Post in consultation at io 
in the morning, called again at 12, met D5 Post 
again at % past six in the afternoon, and then came 
again about n, and staid all night. Had the 
child been his own, he could not have done more 
for it. D? Post is to attend again this morning, 
and then discontinue his visits unless the child 
should be worse. 

The child has been remarkably good in taking its 



jdltecellaneoutf TLttttxti 229 

medicine, but this morning it is cross enough. We 
are extremely careful with it, and keep a Ther- 
mometer in the room, so as to preserve an even 
temperature of the air. 

Angelina has been the most disconsolate creature 
I ever saw, and although I was very much agi- 
tated about the child, yet at times I felt almost as 
uneasy about Angelina. All I could say to her 
appeared to have but very little influence in re- 
conciling her to the death of the child. I myself 
several times completely dispaired of its life, and 
gave it up to almighty God, in the full persuasion 
that he would prove to it a kinder parent than I 
had been, and would render it eternally happy. 

Next to a merciful Providence is my gratitude to 
D T . Borrowe. I never can forget his kind and 
unremitted attention. He appeared determined, 
(if human means could be effectual), to save it. 
He says he never knew it more sickly here, except 
in Yellow Fever time, and never was more hur- 
ried, yet he appeared to give his principal atten- 
tion to us. Five nights in succession did he stay 
with us, and would sit up with the child till 1 
o'clock, and be up again the next morning at 6. 
He declares that of all the patients he has had with 
this complaint, he has not buried one since last 
October, and that at least 150 have been so low 



230 JWtecellaneou* Hetter* 

that he has had to blister them, tho he says he 
thinks he has not seen one where the symptoms of 
the disease were so strongly marked as in Eloise. 
She is indeed a dear child to me, my only child, 
and therefore I determined to go as far as possible 
in the use of human means. In the course of one 
day she discharged nearly a pint of stringy stuff, 
which had been on her lungs and prevented her 
breathing. 

Angelina, I tell her, is now too much exhilarated 
at the prospect of her recovery. 

All last week I was unable, in a great degree, 
to attend to any business. This morning I am 
again enabled to be at my office. Selah has 
been very kind in attending to my business in my 
absence. 

But altho I have reason to hope very favorably 
of Eloise, yet I must now tell you about poor An- 
toinette. Yesterday morning, about 5 o'clock, 
Joseph came to my house after D r . Borrowe to 
visit Antoinette, who was attacked about 2 o'clock 
with substantially the same complaint. ... As 
for my child, I view it almost as one raised from 
the dead. For, several times, I abandoned all 
hopes of its recovery. 

I send this by M' Jayne and I will not close it 
until just as he leaves Town, when I will endeavour 



dfWtecellaueou* TLttttxti 231 

to write you again how Eloise and Antoinette 
are. 

Your affectionate son, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 

Monday afternoon. 

3 o'clock. 

I have just returned from dinner — left Eloise 
doing very well. She has been crying for cake. An- 
toinette is very much as she was in the morning, 
(I have just come from Joseph's). The truth is, 
it is not time yet for her disorder to turn. We do 
not think that she is in any immediate danger. 
I will write you again by the first opportunity. 

Note: Antoinette was Mr. Strong's niece, the eldest daughter 
of his brother, Joseph; she recovered from this illness. Selah is, 
no doubt, the future Judge, Selah Brewster Strong, born May I, 
1792, and possibly, at this time, a student in Mr. Strong's office. 



BENJAMIN STRONG TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Brookhaven, Sept* 4th, 1808. 
Sunday Afternoon. 

Dear George : 

. . . Yesterday Papa borrowed in Setauket 
the Suffolk Gazette of the 27*. h August, and the 
Public Advertiser of the i 8t Septf, in each of which 
is a piece in Answer to yours published in the 



232 jUtecellaneoua Hetter* 

Spectator of the 17* Aug*. ... It is Papa's 
wish that you should again answer them. If 
you have not seen the pieces, I presume you can 
obtain the papers in New York. Jonathan Thomp- 
son, I think, takes the Suffolk Gazette. If he does 
not, perhaps Sandford does. . . . We are all 
very well, and join in best love to you and the 
family at Margaret's, and am, dear George, 
Your affectionate brother, 

BEN J. STRONG. 
GEORGE W. STRONG, ESQ. 

Note: In this letter, to which reference is made elsewhere, 
Benjamin Strong entitles his brothers as "Brother" Joseph, etc., 
as was the custom in that family. 



GEORGE W. STRONG TO ELIZA CATHERINE STRONG 

Troy, Sunday evening, 7 O.C. 

My dear Eliza : 

We arrived at Albany, after a delightful passage, 
a little before 12 today. I remained there till after 
Church this afternoon, and then proceeded here, 
which brings me to the end of my journey. I am 
very well, and my attention too much engrossed 
with the approaching labors of tomorrow to think 
much about returning home. But as soon as the 
business is dispatched, I shall feel, I have no doubt, 



jfffltecellaneou* TLttttv* 233 

uncomfortably anxious to get home. I see nothing 
to prevent my returning by the time mentioned, 
and have no doubt I shall then be with you. 

As the Post Office is now closed, I shall have to 
charge you with the postage of this letter. 

Kiss little George for me, and tell him to say 
Papa, also give my love to Eloise and Mary, and 
tell them they must be good girls, and believe me 
to be, 

Most affectionately yours, 

GEO. W. STRONG. 



ELIZA CATHERINE STRONG TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Fish kill, Thursday morning. 

I received your letter, my dear husband, by 
Templeton, and am very glad to hear that you got 
home safe, and found your journey so pleasant. 
... I have taken two rides with Jane, and a 
long walk with Julia and George to the Creek 
which we passed in going to Melsingah. We 
stayed there some time, gathering wild flowers, 
and listening to the roar of the water as it rushed 
over the rocks. In our ride yesterday, we were 
over taken by the storm, but fortunately got home 
before it rained hard. Jane, I think, seems better 



234 jflttecellaneoua Hetters 

and stronger, but she still looks very thin. All the 
rest of the family are well. 

Give my love to the girls and believe me, 
Affectionately yours, 

E. C. S. 

P. S. George sends his love to you and his 
sisters. 

Note: This letter may have been written in 1829. See No. 
192 of Mr. Strong's MS. letters. Julia and Templeton may have 
been the children of Mrs. Strong's sister, Mrs. Johnson. 



GEORGE W. STRONG TO ELOISE LLOYD STRONG 

[This letter is not at present obtainable, but when found it may be inserted 
here, or on a fly leaf.] 



jWiacellaneoua TLttttx* 235 



236 miscellaneous 3Lttttv& 

ELOISE LLOYD STRONG TO GEORGE W. STRONG 
Lloyd's Neck, May 17th, 1828. 

My dearest Father: 

We arrived here at twenty-five minutes after 
six o'clock, and would have been here much sooner 
had we not been detained on the road. We started 
from Brooklyn about a quarter after nine o'clock, 
with three passengers besides ourselves. The 
stage was drawn by three horses, and we led a horse 
of Mr. Goulds up, which afterwards proved a very 
fortunate thing. We stopped first at the Union 
House near Jamaica, merely to water the horses, 
next at Hendricson's, where we dined, and then at 
Jericho. By this time, we were thirteen altogether, 
including the driver. Just after we had turned off 
from the turnpike, the stage stopped and, as I was 
on the back seat, I could not see the reason. The 
passengers immediately jumped out, and I amongst 
the rest, and I perceived that the middle horse had 
fallen down, and we supposed that he was dying. 
After he was unharnessed, he remained perfectly 
still for some time, but on being raised up, he 
stood still for a few minutes and then laid down 
again, and groaned most piteously. We then 
walked on, and had walked, I suppose, three- 
quarters of a mile, when the stage overtook us. 



Jffltecellaneou* Hetter* 237 

Mr. Gould's horse was harnessed with the other 
two, and the other horse was led up the remainder 
of the way. As you know that I am a great coward, 
you may imagine that I was a little frightened at 
first. With the exception of this, we had a most 
delightful ride. The country looks most beauti- 
fully. The blossoms of many of the fruit trees have 
fallen off. Uncle Nelson came off to Huntington 
with the wagon for us. They are all very well 
here, and Angelina and Phoebe are very glad to 
get home. Angelina did not receive the letter 
[words torn away] that you directed to be taken 
there. Sarah Milnor heard from D r . Post lately, 
and she says that he is much worse, and is not 
expected to live. She likewise says that Colonel 
M c Kenny is to be on here in a fortnight or three 
weeks, and I then hope that you will have the pleas- 
ure of seeing your unknown friend. Tell George 
that I will commence obtaining his specimens on 
Monday. I do not know whether I shall go to 
church tomorrow as it looks very much like rain. 
Give my best love to my dear mother, brother 
and sister, and believe me, 

Your ever affectionate daughter, 

ELOISE. 

Note: Gould is Mr. Strong's tenant-farmer on Lloyd's Neck, 
Uncle Nelson is Mr. John Nelson Lloyd, and Angelina and Phoebe 



238 JWtecellaneoua Hetter* 

are Mr. Lloyd's daughters, returning home probably from some 
visit. Mr. Strong often mentions the Milnors in his letters 
Dr. Post was his family physician, and there is a letter from Col. 
McKenny to Mr. Strong not reproduced here. 



GEORGE W. STRONG TO GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG 

New York, 9th July, 1828. 

Master Jackey: 

So you must know that today I hobbled up, as 
well as I could, with my lame foot, to M r . Trap- 
pan's, where I bought you an elegant and most 
magnificent Nautilus Pampilius, price one Dollar. 
But it was so very delicate I could not conceive 
how I was to get it home, for if I carried it in my 
hand I was sure I should break it. M* Trappan 
said it did not weigh 4 ounces, and told me he 
would wrap it up in a piece of paper, and that I 
must carry it in my hat. I did so, and when I got 
home I went directly upstairs with my hat on, and 
took the Nautilus Pampilius out of my hat, and 
locked it up in your Mama's writing desk, where it 
remains safe and sound, and nobody knows any- 
thing about it except ourselves. When I come up 
to White Stone, I will endeavour to bring it with 
me, but I shall have to bring it in my hat. This, 
you know, is a secret between you and me, and 



jJfflteceUaneou* Letter* 239 

we will say nothing about it till I give it 
to you. 

Your affectionate father, 

geo. w. strong. 
Master George Templeton Strong. 



JOHN N. LLOYD TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Lloyd's Neck, 27th Oct. 1832. 

My dear Sir: 

I received a letter from you in the early part of 
last week, which, together with the one imme- 
diately preceding, is destroyed. 

It would appear from the newspapers that your 
City is nearly clear of cholera. . . . How it 
will affect the dense slave population remains to be 
seen. So far as the human mind can discern, it 
would seem to be a dispensation of mercy to both 
blacks and whites, should the plague sweep the 
former at once from the face of the earth. The 
stroke of death would terminate a captivity re- 
lentless in its exactions, and otherwise of hopeless 
duration. The oppressed and degraded negro 
would thus be gathered to that quiet mansion, 
"where the wicked cease from troubling and the 
weary are at rest." The slave owners would then 
be thrown upon their own resources, and in com- 



240 Jffltecellaneoug Hettera 

pelled exertion find a remedy for that unquiet spirit 
which is now urging them headlong into treason. 
... It does appear to me that the reelection of 
Jackson will be equivalent to a dismemberment of 
the Union, and that disunion must lead, sooner or 
later, to feuds of bitterness and bloodshed, such as 
the world will tremble to look upon. . . . 

Very truly yours, 

JNO. N. LLOYD. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ. 



THE SAME 

Lloyd's Neck, 24 November, 1832. 

My dear Sir: 

. . . The important question relative to our 
next Chief Magistrate is settled since I last wrote 
to you, and settled in such a manner as must give 
unfeigned grief and sad forebodings to every well 
informed man, who is at the same time the friend 
of his country. I have never believed in the per- 
manency of our institutions. Their long continu- 
ance presupposes a degree of intelligence and virtue 
which has never yet been found in any nation, nor 
never will be, on this side the Millenium. Still, 
I had hoped that we might get on for yet a few 
years, that the inestimable blessings which it has 



JWtecellaneou* ICettertf 241 

pleased Providence to crowd upon us might not, 
so soon, be spurned, or converted into curses. 
But these hopes are nearly extinct, and in their 
place stands the fearful anticipation of disunion, 
anarchy and civil strife. I almost doubt whether 
the efforts made by wise and good men to stay 
the impending storm will not, in fact, hasten its 
onset, and exasperate its horrors, for it really 
seems as if the approbation of such men, expressed 
in favour of any course, was alone sufficient to band 
the raving democracy of the country against 
it. . . . 

I have read with much interest the account 
which you give of M r . Gallatin, nor am I surprised 
to perceive that you rank his talents very high. 
Hitherto I have had little opportunity to form any 
opinion of his mental powers. A correspondence 
which occurred between him and M T . Canning, 
left me under the impression that M. r . C. was im- 
measureably the superior man; indeed, there was, 
indirectly, an assumption of superiority on the part 
of M r . Canning, which seemed to indicate that he 
thought slightingly of our Minister. All this, 
however, proved very little. Your intercourse 
with M* G. must have been extremely pleasant, 
especially as he seems to have known something of 
the first Law characters in England. . . . 



242 jUltecellaneou* TLttttx* 

You have noticed, no doubt, the accounts of Sir 
Walter Scott's decease. I know you deal little in 
poetry, and perhaps less in novels, still, I cannot 
suppose that you feel entire indifference in relation 
to an individual who, as a poet and novelist, has 
for the last quarter of a century attracted the gaze 
of all eyes. A meeting has been called, I perceive, 
in New York, for the purpose of doing honour to 
his memory, and having gone thus far, I hope your 
citizens will not stop short of such an expression 
as shall convince the world that they know how to 
value other and higher things than pounds, shillings 
and pence. 

Yours very truly, 

JNO. N. LLOYD. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ. 

Note : This letter was written on the day of the adoption by 
the Convention of South Carolina of the Nullification Ordinance, 
succeeded by President Jackson's Proclamation of December 1 1 , 
and on March 2, 1833, by the adoption of the Compromise, which 
brought about peace. 



THE SAME 

Lloyd's Neck, 20 April, 1833. 

My dear Sir : 

. . . Immediately after I wrote last to you, I 
received information from M T . W. A. White that 



Jffltecellaueou* TLttttx* 243 

your brother had been appointed a clerk in the 
Union Bank, and subsequently M r . Howard was 
here, and let me more into particulars on the sub- 
ject. I am much gratified that this provision has 
thus opportunely been made for so aimiable and 
estimable a man. Should he retain his health, he 
will, (as you say), with a little assistance, be able 
to support himself and family in comfort. I notice 
what you say of his aversion to any remarks on the 
subject of his misfortunes, and shall scrupulously 
spare his feelings in any communication I may 
have with the family. . . . With M r . Cook, 
who married your niece, I was never acquainted. 
From the manner in which you speak of him, and 
from some indistinct recollections, I conclude that 
he resides in the country. His wife was, I think, 
your sister's eldest daughter. What must become 
of her and her eight children in the event of her 
husband's death? It is harrowing to dwell on such 
instances of helpless misery. . . . 

Very sincerely yours, 

JNO. N. LLOYD. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ. 

Note: The earlier part of this letter refers to the failure of 
Strong, Willets and Co., Joseph Strong's firm, in 1822. The 
latter part refers to a daughter of Margaret Strong and the Joseph 
Strong who was Mr. Strong's cousin. This daughter married 
William A. Cook, a merchant in New York City, who retired to a 
farm at Smithtown, L. I., and died in May, 1833. 



244 JWtecellaneou* Hetter* 

THE SAME 

Lloyd's Neck, 26 June, 1833. 

My dear Sir: 

. . . The visit from General Jackson, which 
you were anticipating when you wrote your letter, 
has been paid, much to the satisfaction, (I should 
think), of all parties. 

The overwhelming popularity of this man is 
indeed astonishing, nor do I know exactly to what 
cause it can be ascribed. Military reputation is no 
doubt at the bottom of the matter, but there cer- 
tainly is something beyond that. He must under- 
stand men better than most persons. By the way, 
I perceive that in New Haven they wished him 
to attend an exhibition of statuary on Sabbath 
evening, which he declined. Now I don't believe 
that he cares any more about the Sabbath than 
many other people, but he knows full well that with 
a very large and respectable part of our population 
such a movement as this would weigh mightily 
in his favor. See the difference between him and 
J. Q. Adams, (who, by the bye, has more religion 
in his little ringer than Jackson has in his entire 
person). Adams, in one of his journeys East, 
while he was President, rode from Providence to 
Boston on horseback, on Sunday. The newspapers 
got hold of him, (notwithstanding he performed the 



ifWtecellaneou* JLtttttst 245 

ride in a short jacket), and sad work they made. 
But Adams, out of his study, is a booby, while in 
it I suspect he may safely challenge the first states- 
men of the age. . . . 

Very sincerely yours, 

JNO. N. LLOYD. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ 



WILLIAM JOHNSON TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Albany, August 12th, 1822. 

My dear Sir: 

Your letter by Mr. W. was received yesterday. 
I have not forgot your business, but have not yet 
had an opportunity to move the Court. There is 
an unusually full Bar, and much business to be 
done. . . . The report of Friday as to the fever 
was alarming, but I am glad to perceive, by the 
paper of Saturday, that only one new case was 
reported on that day. ... I hope that the 
families now collected at Jamaica will continue 
in health. Their situation is pleasant and airy, 
and a letter from Maria, of Friday, is very satis- 
factory. 

I trust, my dear Strong, that you will not expose 
your self, should the fever extend further into the 
City. Be so kind as to write me as often as you 



246 ifflfecellaneou* Hetter* 

can. As a boat arrives here every day by which 
the papers are received, we are not kept long in 
suspense, and are able to rectify the exaggerated 
reports of passengers. 

How is our friend Mr. Wells ? 

Yours affectionately, 

WM. JOHNSON. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ. 



THE SAME 

Albany, August 18th, 1822. 

Dear Strong: 

I thank you for your letter which was received 
yesterday. My anxiety for the family in Carlisle 
Street is increased by the information you give of 
the additional causes of alarm. They are, perhaps, 
from their habits and mode of life, less exposed 
than many others to a contagious disease, yet it is 
prudent that they should remove and, as I see that 
the Board of Health, on Tuesday, recommended 
the removal of all persons from that vicinity, I 
expect to hear tomorrow that they are all gone 
to Jamaica, for I agree with you that they had 
better go out of the City. Though I admire 
and confide in the prudence, calmness and dis- 



Jffltecellaneou* Hetter* 247 

cretion of our sister Olivia, yet in a case of this 
kind, I think she will not hesitate to comply 
with our wishes, even if she apprehends no danger. 
I should think Mrs. Templeton would bear the 
ride in an easy coach, the road is so smooth and 
easy. 

I received a letter from Maria, and was happy 
to learn that they were all well at Jamaica. 

The Calendar of Causes is large, (512 notices), 
and the session of the Court will probably con- 
tinue three weeks. Yesterday the Court decided 
the cause of Bruen vs. Warner and denied the 
set-off. No other judgements will be given 
before the last week. The Court sit from 9 to 
2. No cause of consequence has yet been 
argued. 

Let me hear from you as often as leisure or 
opportunity will permit. My love to Eliza, mama 
and sisters, and our little ones. 
Yours sincerely, 

WM. JOHNSON. 

Note: Miss Olivia Templeton is remembered well by the 
writer of this note as his kind "Aunt Olivia," more correctly 
great-aunt. She died unmarried, and was the last in that family. 
Miss Olivia led a very retired life, in her house on Gramercy 
Park, No. 70 East 21st Street, next door to Mr. Geo. W. Strong's 
house, No. 72, and next door but one to Mr. George Templeton 
Strong's house, No. 74, Between Nos. 72 and 74 was a vacant 
lot, "The Long Garden," and so used by the adjoining families. 



248 jffltetellaneou* Hetter* 

JOHN WELLS TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Albany, Wednesday Evening. 

My dear Sir : 

As it was impracticable for me to get here before 
last night, without killing my wife, which I have 
at present no desire to do, and running the risk 
of sharing the same fate myself, which I am also 
desirous of avoiding, I could not move in the case 
of the Union Bank against Bell till this morning, 
which I then did. I took Judgement without 
opposition, and entered the rule for a Writ of 
Enquiry to the Coroner of New York. I fear 
however that it is too late for you to save the Term, 
especially as in the present state of the roads, which 
afford, the greater part of the way, neither wheel- 
ing nor sleighing, this letter will probably not reach 
you in the usual time. I send it, however, to let 
it take its chance, and if it arrives too late, it could 
not have been avoided, without a fatigue and ex- 
posure by riding the whole of a second night, which 
I did not think this or any of my other business 
required, and in which opinion I am sure of your 
concurrence. 

Believe me very truly yours, 

JOHN WELLS. 
GEO. W. STRONG, ESQ. 

[Endorsed, 5 January, 1820.] 



iffltecellaneoug 1Lttttv& 249 

THE SAME 

Albany, Jan. 23rd, 1820. 

Dear Sir: 

The Supreme Court rose on Friday last, having 
on that day heard no arguments, but merely meet- 
ing to give opinions. In the case of Whitney vs. 
the Firemen's Insurance Company, I took judg- 
ment by default before Jones arrived here, which 
still stands, but I agreed to waive it upon his argu- 
ing it on paper whilst we are here, so as to give the 
case and arguments to the Judges, and have their 
opinion at the next Term. If this is not done, I 
will hold the default, and so he understands it, and 
I have reason to think I shall be furnished with his 
argument tomorrow, mine having been finished 
some days since. This I beg you will explain to 
Mr. Whitney, who will probably be inquiring what 
has been done in the cause, and especially that the 
argument on paper is every way as useful as if it 
had been in open Court, tho it to me is much more 
troublesome. I have no doubt I shall be able to 
hand the papers to the Judges in the course of the 
week. Nothing having been done in New York 
about the freight from the Hilda, I have, of 
course, left the case as it was, as I did not think the 
delay could have been compensated by the addi- 
tional fact we wished to introduce, even if it could 



250 JWtecellaneou* %tttzv& 

have been established, which, after all, would seem 
to be doubtful. 

With regard to Mr. Byers' cause, from whom I 
have received a letter, why does not he get the de- 
position of the witness taken in the other cause re- 
taken under the Act of Congress? I will write to 
him and he will, I suppose, call on you. I will as- 
certain from Judge W. P. Van Ness, who I believe 
is here, whether he means to hold the Court at the 
regular Term, and let you know. The Court of 
Errors meet on Tuesday, and I do not hope to get 
away from here till the end of next week. The 
Renwick cause must rest till I return, when, if the 
books are not produced by consent, we must ex- 
cept, or amend our bill if necessary, for the books 
we must have. The cause of Woolsey vs. Smith I 
submitted with Mr. Oakley, on extending our 
points a little. We did not come near it on the 
Calendar, and I supposed it was better to dispose 
of it, as I put all on paper I could have said. Tell 
Wilkins, if he should inquire about the cause of 
Warner vs. Bruen, that it was not reached. We 
were within two or three causes of it, and I should 
have argued it, if it had been reached. The Watt 
cause has not been argued, but we will be able to 
dispose of it, without doubt, in May. I have 
written to Wickoff, and after I have seen him, will 



JWtecellaneoutf Hettertf 251 

write to you the result. I send you the papers you 
sent to me for the Governor's certificate with it 
annexed. 

I am, 

Very truly yours, 

JOHN WELLS. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ. 

P. S. Judge Van Ness has promised me his 
opinion in the Glass case, but I have not received 
it. He told me it proceeded on the construction of 
the Act, that a manufacturer could not import at 
his own cost, but must add the usual profit, and 
that he thought it a case for the Secretary of the 
Treasury. 



THOMAS ADDIS EMMET TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Albany, Sept. 4th, 1822. 

G. W. Strong, Esq. 
Dear Sir : 

By what accident I do not know, but it has so 
happened that the cases for the Court of Errors in 
Coddington vs. Bay have not come up, but I have 
put it on the state of alarm in New York, and that 
they have been left at your office in the infected 
district. ... I regret on every account my 
friend Wells' protracted indisposition, but in no 



252 iffltecellaneou* ILttttx* 

small degree as it has delayed the argument of 
Nourse vs. Prime, Ward & Sands. 

Believe me, sincerely and respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

THOS. ADDIS EMMET. 



CHANCELLOR KENT TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

April 25, 1826. 

10 A.M. 

Dear Sir: 

You will consider this note, of course, as con- 
fidential. 

I have been looking over the cases as to the time 
when the bill in question ought to have been pre- 
sented for payment, and the point is left so uncer- 
tain that I cannot rely upon any case. I suspect, 
then, that mercantile usage would hold a bill pay- 
able at 60 days sight, and accepted payable on 2nd 
November, 1825, as in fact payable on that day, and 
that the acceptor had himself given credit for the 
3 days of grace. He could be estopped from claim- 
ing any days of grace beyond the 2nd of November. 
He could be considered as having included them in 
his designation of the 2nd of November. The 
drawer and endorsers have no right to claim days 
for him that he cannot claim for himself. If he 
was bound to pay on the 2nd November, they are 



JWtecellaneous; Eetterg 253 

chargeable on his default. I have no doubt that, 
if we were to resort to parol proof, it would appear 
that the 2nd of November was the 63rd day after 
acceptance. It is common with merchants to 
mark bills as due such a day, (the day they fall 
due), and payable such a day, (the 3rd day of 
grace). I am rather of opinion, upon better reflec- 
tion, that the act of the acceptor would be taken, 
as against him, to mean that the 2nd of November 
was the end of the days of grace. I think there is 
much color for argument and so much reasonable- 
ness, and probably so much usage on that side, 
that I dare not give an opinion to the contrary, 
especially as I cannot find cases to bear me out. 

I beg you therefore to mention to the other 
gentlemen you consult, (in case my name has al- 
ready been mentioned), that Mr. K. says that he is 
so circumstanced that he is obliged to decline giving 
an opinion in the case. 

It would be of no use for me to talk with the 
gentlemen you named, for unless the cases are to 
be found that settle the point, it is not probable 
they could, by mere argument, remove my doubts 
and scruples. 

Yours very sincerely, 

JAMES KENT. 
G. W. STRONG, ESQ. 



254 jfWtecellaneou* Hettera 

FRANCIS GRIFFIN AT NEW YORK TO GEO. W. 
STRONG AT WILTON, CONN. 

New York, September 5^, 1832. 

My dear Sir : 

I am this moment in receipt of your letter of the 
3 r ? inst. With regard to the cholera, and the 
propriety of your return to town, I will endeavour 
to give you all the information which I possess, but 
which after all is very meagre. With regard to 
advice, I feel very unwilling to give any. I am 
here in town myself, and do not wish myself out of 
it. . . . The universal opinion however seems 
to be that the disease has been, and still is, on the 
decline. I have heard no contrary opinions. I 
this morning understood from a source I relied on, 
that there were but seven hospital cases yesterday, 
and those all of a mild character. My father, who 
you know is very nervous on the subject, has made 
many inquiries, and amongst others of two or 
three respectable physicians, and has himself come 
to the conclusion that the city is as safe as the 
country, and he accordingly contemplates bringing 
his family in town either on Friday or early next 
week. If he delays until next week, it is not be- 
cause he fears anything from the cholera. I also 
find many families returned, and in many others 
that the head of the family has returned for the 



JWteceUaneou* TLttttx* 255 

purpose of opening the house, and getting the ser- 
vants together, with a view of bringing in their 
families immediately. . . . Doctor Wright told 
my father today that the disease had abated very 
much within the last two days. Doctor Barrow 
says he should fear the country fevers more than 
cholera in town. The rumor to which you refer, of 
six cases in Cross Street, I had not heard of before 
I saw it in your letter. M' Nathan called at your 
brother Benjamin's this morning, after the receipt 
of your letter. Your brother Benjamin said in his 
cautious way, that he did not know but that it was 
proper to tell you that it was safe to come to town. 
He desired us to say that the house in Greenwich 
street near yours, which had been a source of alarm, 
had now been cleansed and purified, and he did not 
think it was any longer to be feared. 

Upon reading over this letter, it strikes me that 
the whole tenor of it may be in favor of your im- 
mediate return to town. I should not wish that 
my personal opinion should have any effect upon 
you. I wish I could give you more facts. As your 
brother says, in New York you hear nothing said 
about the cholera, that is, nothing definite or satis- 
factory. At all events, I do not see why you 
should return before the time you seem to have 
fixed, (n tJ ? inst.) You could not, if you would, 



256 jffltecellaneoua TLttttv* 

return before the end of the week, and the begin- 
ning of next week will be as good for all practical 
purposes as the end of this. There is considerable 
to be done in the office at present, but which I will 
endeavour to get along with as well as I can till 
your return. M^ C. W. Lawrence called yester- 
day; he has been waiting your return some time. 
The bankruptcy papers you prepared to send to 
England for him, have been returned for correction, 
with voluminous remarks by the English counsel. 
He seemed so anxious to have them got under way, 
that I told him I would attempt to draft them, and 
get them ready for your correction when you came 
to town. 

Owing to the situation in which I left M T f 
Griffin, I shall feel obliged to visit her on Saturday, 
and shall not return until Monday. My father, 
however, will make his arrangements so as to be in 
the office on those days. The Superior Court met 
on Monday, adjourned until today, and then again 
adjourned until next Monday. The Calendar is 
large, and the Bar generally have returned, but 
neither lawyers nor clients have been long enough 
in town to have causes prepared. I directed M r . 
Nathan not to notice any of our causes. The Garcia 
cause was noticed against us, but has gone off for 
the term. The case of Hone vs. Newbold is also 



jfWitfcellaneou* Hettertf 257 

noticed against us, and stands N° 78 on the Calendar. 

I regretted extremely that I should have been 
absent when you visited Stratford. Your letter 
spoke so uncertainly of your coming over that I 
hardly expected you. If I had, I should certainly 
staid at home. I went on a tiresome fishing party, 
which I hoped at the time would fall through, pure- 
ly to make up the party and oblige Judge Hoffman, 
who has a greater taste for catching fish than try- 
ing causes. I shall however do the best I can to 
attend to the business to which you have directed 
my attention. I have however received so many 
interruptions today from persons calling in, and 
expect so many more tomorrow and the next day, 
and being withal hardly yet broken into the har- 
ness, that I fear I shall accomplish very little this 
week. . . . 

In the case of Case vs. Weeks, M r . Nathan says 
he has been two or three times to see M T . Case 
without success ; he will call again this afternoon at 
M* C's dinner hour. I presume M r . Case will en- 
large the time. I should prefer this course. I 
never understood much about the suit. There are 
two or three suits which run into each other, and I 
fear I should not understand very well how to make 
out the costs. If M* Case does not consent, I will 
do the best I can. 



258 ifWfecellaneou* iletter* 

In Taylor vs. Graham I will endeavour to do as 
you suggest. Two or three of the clerks have re- 
turned, but they are not quite prepared to sit 
down regularly to copying. 

In Tucker and Lawries ads. Hay, the Com- 
mission has been opened, and put into the clerk's 
hands to copy. 

M r . Nathan desired me to say that he had met 
your servant, Isaac, who was in want of money. 
If you desire it, I will hand him any amount you 
may name. If I can be of any service preparatory 
to your coming to town, in the way of getting your 
house arranged, you must command me. 

Excuse my scrawl; it is now half past ten at 
night. I am at Bunker's, where I lodge, and must 
yet put my letter into the Post-office. 

Very respectfully and truly, 

FRANCIS GRIFFIN. 

Note: Francis Griffin was the son of George Griffin, Mr. 
Strong's partner, and was probably a partner also. 



ROBERT FULTON TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

New York, October 25th, 18 13. 

Mr. Strong: 
Sir: 

In building the Paragon, I had no concern with 
Messrs. Badgley and Weeks. My contract was 



iflfeceUaneou* TLttttv* 259 

with Mr. Charles Brownne to build the boat and 
do the joiner's work. And so minute is the Con- 
tract, that the joiner's work should in all things be 
executed like the Car, in principle, quantity and 
quality, that every thing is mentioned, even to 
making drawers to hold the workmen's cloaths and 
tools. That Contract M T . Brownne shewed to M r . 
Weeks. He had the Car to look at, by which to 
judge of his estimate, which, I think, was 2800 $. 
He, however, received, I think, of Mf Brownne 
3000 $, and 100 of Cap* Wisnall, that is, 300 more 
than his estimate. And now he demands 1500 $ 
more, which is one half more than his estimate and 
Contract. As the Car and Paragon are of the same 
length and, breadth of beam, and the latter has only 
4 berths more than the first, as the floors, linings, 
ceilings and partitions have the same number of 
superficial feet, the sky-lights in number the same, 
but the Car's the largest, Wheel-guards and cover 
to the wheels the same, pantries, bar, servants' 
berths, tool and cloaths' drawers for the men the 
same, where could he put 1500 or 300 dollars worth 
of work more in the Paragon than in the Car ? It 
is impossible, and whatever his journeymen may 
say of over 1000 $ additional work, I have had the 
two boats compared by experienced Master build- 
ers, and they are puzzled to tell which has the most 



260 iJffltoceUaneoua Hettera 

or best executed work, the Paragon or the Car. 
... I have, my good sir, stated to you these 
facts and my view of the subject. Mr. Weeks will 
judge for himself whether it be politic for him to 
risque more money in prosecuting a claim to which, 
in my opinion, he has not a shadow of right. 
I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient, 

ROBT. FULTON. 

Note: Car means the preceding steamboat, Car of 
Neptune. 



PHILO RUGGLES TO GEORGE W. STRONG 

Poughkeepsie, July 31st, 1815. 

George W. Strong, Esquire. 
Sir: 

I received your memorandum a few days ago 
by Mr. Bostwick, respecting the money which you 
are willing to loan to me and Mr. Bulkley. I ex- 
pected him here at farthest last Saturday night, 
but, not coming, I have sent the bond to him to be 
executed, which will be returned to me tomorrow 
night, and I expect to send it down by the Fire Fly 
on Wednesday, to the care of Mr. Flewwelling, 
cashier of the Manhattan Bank. I shall want the 



jfHtecellaneou* Hetterg 261 

money deposited in that bank, and a certificate 
sent to me by him, so that I may receive the money 
at the bank here. If you will be good enough to 
call on him on Thursday, so that the business may 
be done, and I receive the certificate by the next 
boat, it will much oblige me. I shall write to him 
particularly upon the subject. 
I am, 

with Respect, your Humb 1 Serv't, 

PHILO RUGGLES. 



GEORGE W. STRONG TO JOHN WALLIS 

New York, 9 Deer. 18 14. 
JOHN WALLIS, ESQ., 

Attorney to michael lowber 

Dr. Sir, 
In answer to your note of yesterday, I am 
instructed by the directors of the Union Bank to 
state to you that they extremely regret that Mr. 
Lowber, or any other person, should so far forget 
the duty due to himself and the community at 
large, as to hold out threats like those contained in 
your note. Mr. Lowber has no reason to complain. 
He is asked merely to fulfil his own engagement, 
and the Bank are perfectly willing to receive their 



262 jfffltecellaneou* Uttttvti 

own bills in payment of his. The object and mo- 
tives of Mr. Lowber are boldly and distinctly 
avowed in your note, which, coming from you in 
the professed capacity of agent to him, I think 
cannot fail to be received as competent testimony 
against him, should he be so imprudent and re- 
vengeful as to put his threats in execution, and it is 
confidently believed that, under all the circum- 
stances of this case, a Court of Equity, (to which a 
resort would probably be had), will effectually re- 
strain any proceedings at law originating in such 
motives. For any bills of the Union Bank which 
he may hold, the bills of any other Bank in this 
city more acceptable to him will be readily given 
to him in exchange, but a payment in specie is at 
present peremptorily declined, for reasons per- 
fectly well known to you and every other man in 
the community, and it is believed that so odious 
would be a prosecution against any Bank in this 
city, for the non-payment of its bills in specie at 
this distressing time, that, as well the individual 
attempting it as those assisting in it, would be 
marked with general detestation. The Banks, 
therefore, in this place, are determined to resist 
at present, and at every hazard, any attempt to 
coerce them into the payment of specie, where the 
object proceeds merely from a spirit of unreason- 



JHtecellaneoua TLttttvx 263 

able revenge, or other sinister motive, and they 
cannot but think that every virtuous man will set 
his face against such a procedure. After this frank 
explanation, it is for you to judge how far it will be 
expedient for you to advise your client to put his 
threats in execution, and it remains only for me to 
add that your attempts, so far from receiving any 
facility from me by way of voluntary courtesy, 
will, in every instance, be resisted with the utmost 
legal rigor. 

Yours, etc., 

GEO. W. STRONG, 

Att'y for the union bank. 

Note : An elaborate account of this part of the financial his- 
tory of the United States will be found in Senator Beveridge's 
History of John Marshall, Vol. IV, Chap. iv. 



the orphan asylum society to george w. strong 

Dear Sir: 

I have the pleasure to transmit to you a Resolu- 
tion of the Ladies of the Orphan Asylum Society, 
passed at their last meeting unanimously : 

Resolved, That the Secretary prepare an expres- 
sion of the thanks of the Board to George W. 
Strong Esq. for his kind, able and gratuitous ser- 
vices in closing the business of the Legacy of 



264 jfWteceUaueou* ICettera 

Phil? Jacobs Esq., and soliciting his acceptance of 
a Silver Pitcher, engraved with the device of the 
Seal of the Orphan Asylum Society. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

MARIA MONTGOMERY 

Sec'y of the orphan a. society. 

[in pencil] 

E. HAMILTON. 

Greenwich, New York. 
July, 1833. 



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